Panthers ready to 'fight' to defend Stanley Cup title

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Stanley Cup sat on a table, bathed in light, as people -- most of the women in red, the men in dark suits with red ties -- gathered round. It was a chance for them to take a picture with the Cup, the trophy that many of them had worked their whole lives to win, that they had spent the summer celebrating, and that they will spend the upcoming season defending.

That will kick off on Tuesday, when the Florida Panthers face the Boston Bruins, the team they defeated in each of the past two Stanley Cup Playoffs, including in six games in the Eastern Conference Second Round last season.

They will hoist their championship banner before puck drop at Amerant Bank Arena (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS), and then, well, it all starts over again.

“We deserved to celebrate a big accomplishment for the whole summer until now,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “Tomorrow, finally, we get play again and we get to fight for it again.”

The Panthers will attempt to do what only two teams -- the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017, and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021 -- have accomplished since 1998: defend their title.

“I’m looking forward to the hockey,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Really, it’s great that it’s Boston because we’ve played this team 21 times in the last two years, and they’ve been 21 amazing games in terms of intensity and physicality. The series last year was as heavy as a series as I’ve ever coached. It was as hard and physically demanding a series as we played in the entire playoffs.

“So, it’s fitting. It’s the right way. We played so hard to get there. It should be Boston because they’re the team that probably played us as hard as anybody.”

When the Panthers came to camp last season, having lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, they were businesslike in their approach. They were focused. They were single-minded.

Maurice wasn’t sure what he would get when they returned to camp this season.

So, he looked for tells.

“Not their numbers, but Barkov doesn’t have to go flat-out on those tests. He’s still making the team. And they all did. So, for me that was the first great anecdotal sign,” Maurice said. “Then the numbers came back and we were fitter than we were last year at this time. And the first four days this year, we exceeded last year, which was better than the year before.”

He saw it in the early stages of training camp, when the veterans were doing their work, solidly, quietly, knowing when they needed to be good and doing it. He saw it in the confidence of understanding how far all that work could get them, and being willing to put it in again. In not backing off, even if they might want to.

“They’re a little bit more experienced,” Maurice said. “Still though, we’re not starting where we finished. And that’s not me trying to take the pressure off the team. You have to go through the adversity. You need it. And I think we’re going to have a bunch.”

There are 14 sets of back-to-back games on the schedule. There is the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal in November. There will be teams gunning for the Panthers each and every night.

Nothing about this season will be easy.

“I don’t think they’re afraid,” Maurice said. “They’re not afraid adversity is coming. I don’t think they feel particularly special. That’s what I was watching for. I think they’ve got enough humility.”

And when that adversity does come, when the injuries arrive and the season drags and they lose a couple of games in a row, they will be able to flash back to Monday night, to the feeling of opening boxes and revealing the rings sparkling up at them, complete with 554 diamonds, 16 princess cut rubies, one round ruby, nine round blue sapphires and 37 round yellow sapphires, totaling 15.6 carats. The rings are detailed enough that they also include a picture of a rat and a WWE championship belt, symbols that the Panthers have embraced throughout their history and during their celebrations this summer.

And, maybe, they’re not enough.

“[Carter] Verhaeghe brought his other ring here and two rings looks pretty cool on your hand,” forward Sam Bennett said, referring to the ring Verhaeghe won with the Lightning in 2020. “I’d love to fill up my hand a little more.”

It’s a reminder, Matthew Tkachuk said, of what they can potentially do again this season.

It’s a reminder of who they have been and what they can be.

With Hurricane Milton bearing down on the west coast of Florida, the Panthers did not get to celebrate their rings in front of an arena full of fans. So, instead of a their planned 2024 Champions Ring Ceremony at Amerant Bank Arena, the team and personnel gathered at SeatGeek Stage, an event space adjacent to their practice facility, Baptist Health IcePlex, on Monday night.

With a few words to each player from owners Vincent and Teresa Viola, the small red boxes were passed out, one by one, with players and staff cautioned not to open them until the end. Just as they had won together, they would reveal their rings together.

The second player called up to receive his box was Barkov.

“You’ve got to go for No. 2,” Viola said. “All right?”

It wasn’t the only time that Viola mentioned a repeat, egging the players on to a second championship.

So, how realistic is it that these same Panthers will be back here again next year, with a new version of this same ring and a summer of partying with the Stanley Cup behind them?

“With sincerity, I like our group. I like the guys,” general manager Bill Zito said. “But it is so remarkably difficult to win. I know I can tell you personally, and I can tell you strategically as a manager, we’re worried about tomorrow. We’ll see where it takes us.”