NHL: Boston Bruins at Florida Panthers – Source: Imagn
The Florida Panthers got their season going on the right foot, taking it to the rival Boston Bruins and building up a 6-2 lead before holding them off to earn a 6-4 win on home ice at Amerant Bank Arena.
It was a historic night for the Panthers, as they raised their Stanley Cup banner to the rafters to commemorate the franchise’s first championship, won last spring in a thrilling seven-game series over the Edmonton Oilers.
And while they lost several key members from that title-winning squad, the Panthers did make a handful of additions. Among the new players in the fold this season is forward A.J. Greer, who spent last year with the Calgary Flames.
Before the festivities on Wednesday night, cameras captured Greer’s wife Taylore and young son Jackson at the glass to watch the pre-game skate. She later posted the image to her Instagram account, captioning it:
“DADA”
A.J. Greer is in his first season with the Panthers
Greer, who signed a two-year contract with the Panthers in July, praised the atmosphere in the building over the course of his team’s 6-4 win.
“It felt amazing,” Greer said following Wednesday’s practice at Baptist Health IcePlex(via NHL.com). “Energy was great, building was buzzing, and we came out hot. We stuck to the game plan. It was great to get to W. Coming out of training camp, you’re a little sluggish because you went really hard, but now we got all our energy back. We got the first one, so we got 81 more to go.”
Greer picked up his first fight as a member of the Panthers, squaring off with Boston’s Mark Kastelic after a hard hit on linemate Jesper Boqvist.
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“The place was so loud,” Greer said with a smile. “Once you sit down in the penalty box, you start hearing it. Just with the flow of the game and how it all went down, I think that it was the right time to kind of step up. It was eventually going to happen at some point in that game, so might as well get it out early. It was a good fight, and we fed off that energy. We got two quick goals right after that.”
Meanwhile, Greer explained the necessity of buying into head coach Paul Maurice’s system for the betterment of the team.
“It’s a collective buy-in to both the systems, the intensity and the hard work that comes with it,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy to get any win, to win any hockey game, but if we’re able to be comfortable in that chaos, and we’re able to execute in those tough times, we’ll figure out ways to win and we have the tools to do that.”
Greer and the Panthers take on another division rival, the Ottawa Senators, on Thursday evening.
