Panthers lift 2nd Cup banner, open 'new chapter'

SUNRISE, Fla. -- There are a mates of insignificant dings these days successful the Stanley Cup, including 1 close adjacent the spot wherever the names of the 2024-25 Florida Panthers are etched successful commemoration of their latest title.

Such things hap during title celebrations. No worries, they'll beryllium fixed soon.

And the Panthers are hoping for the accidental to enactment a fewer much dings successful the trophy adjacent year.

A caller play for the present back-to-back Stanley Cup champions started Tuesday, with the Panthers each gazing toward the apical of Amerant Bank Arena to ticker different title banner hoisted to the rafters. It's fundamentally the aforesaid arsenic past year's -- achromatic background, reddish lettering -- with the lone alteration being the year, 2025 alternatively of 2024.

"This is simply a caller twelvemonth and it's a caller accidental for us," Panthers guardant Brad Marchand said. "And erstwhile it starts, it's clip to crook the leafage and commencement moving toward a accidental to hopefully bash it again."

The banner swayed implicit the extremity of the crystal that the Panthers defended doubly for Tuesday. By the adjacent location crippled connected Thursday, it'll instrumentality its more-permanent spot implicit the squad seat alongside the team's different banners for part and league titles.

"You benignant of look backmost astatine what you achieved but astatine the aforesaid clip you're arrogant of the achievement," Panthers guardant Anton Lundell said. "But it gives you much hunger to bash it again."

Fans lined up for 1 much representation with the Cup extracurricular the doors of the arena Tuesday afternoon, galore of them arriving agelong earlier the antithetic 5 p.m. weekday commencement clip -- 1 that was utilized to accommodate being portion of a nationally televised triple-header. Once they came inside, the caller scoreboard implicit halfway crystal displayed a replay of immoderate moments from the 3rd play of Game 6 of past season's Stanley Cup Final, conscionable successful lawsuit anyone forgot however that play ended.

And aft each the warm-ups were complete, conscionable arsenic they did successful June 2024 and June 2025 - the Panthers finished disconnected the Cup title runs by beating the Edmonton Oilers connected location crystal successful each of the past 2 rubric matchups -- the fans roared erstwhile the trophy was brought onto the rink. Assistant skipper Aaron Ekblad did the honors this year, carrying the trophy onto the ice, past hoisting it earlier placing it onto a basal adjacent to the spot wherever the banner was being unfurled and hoisted.

Once the banner was raised, the players raised their sticks successful a salute to the fans.

"We privation three! We privation three! We privation three!" the fans chanted back.

It capped a two-day solemnisation for the champs; the Panthers' players and coaches got their title rings successful a backstage ceremonial Monday night.

"Last nighttime was a small spot of a bully reminder for them what the payoff for each that hard enactment is," Panthers manager Paul Maurice said. "And it benignant of lifts everybody's spirits and gets them excited astir tonight."

It won't beryllium an casual roadworthy for the Panthers this season. Captain Aleksander Barkov is going to miss respective months and perchance the full play with 2 torn ligaments successful his knee, an wounded suffered 20 minutes into his archetypal signifier of grooming camp. And guardant Matthew Tkachuk is retired until apt December portion recovering from offseason surgery. Barkov and Tkachuk, dressed successful thoroughfare clothes, watched the hoisting from the Florida bench.

The Panthers cognize however uncommon this accidental is. They could beryllium the archetypal back-to-back-to-back NHL champion since the New York Islanders won 4 consecutive Cups from 1980 done 1983.

"It'll beryllium up determination forever," Panthers defenseman Seth Jones said of the banner. "This is simply a peculiar group. And it's a celebration, but astatine the aforesaid time, it's a turning of the page. It is simply a caller chapter."