Which Stanley Cup cat?

The Florida Panthers appeared to pick up right where they left off last season, beginning their Stanley Cup title defense with a convincing 6-4 victory over the Boston Bruins on opening night.

Despite the delayed start time because Florida was raising its Stanley Cup championship banner, the Panthers were jumping all over Boston as the game began.

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Sam Bennett opened the scoring by placing the rebound of a shot from Evan Rodrigues past Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo at 6:27.

Just 64 seconds later, Eetu Luostarinen found a loose puck in the Boston goal area and shot it into the goal.

At halftime of the opening period, the shots on goal were 12-1 in favor of Florida.

Boston cut the Cats' lead in half thanks to a shorthanded goal from Pavel Zacha, which came after a draw in the offensive zone because Adam Boqvist injured his face from a puck and the tie fell through at Florida's end.

But that didn't matter, because the Panthers scored two quick goals towards the end of the field and went into the first break with a 4-1 lead.

This time it was Sam Reinhart who scored a great short-handed goal and Bennett scored his second goal of the night.

Jonah Gadjovich completed a nice rush pass from Jesper Boqvist to give the Panthers a 5-1 lead midway through the game.

Florida took a three-goal lead in the third period after Charlie McAvoy scored at midfield for the Bruins, but a second goal from Rodrigues made the Panthers' score 6-2 early in the third period and ended all hopes Bruins comeback ruined.

Two late Bruins goals from Trent Frederick and David Pastrnak made the score close, but by that point it was too late.

Next up for Florida is a four-game road trip that begins Thursday night in Ottawa.

QUICK THOUGHTS

Adam Boqvist skated off the ice under his own power after taking a puck in the face in the first period but did not return to the game.

There were 11 different Florida players who recorded at least one point.

Florida allowed nine shorthanded goals last season and another five during the playoffs. Boston scored on Tuesday.

Florida scored eight short-handed goals last season and two more in the playoffs. They also had a Tuesday.

The Panthers went 0-6 on the power play and 3-4 on the penalty kill.

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