Florida Panthers xxxx Home Opener

     The Florida Panthers held their 2026-27 home opener on Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena and xxxx the Minnesota Wild X-X. The Panthers were the last club of 32 National Hockey League teams to hold their home opener. It was the first time in five seasons that the Panthers did not raise any of kind of banner to the rafters prior to their opening home contest in Sunrise. 

     Several Panthers player participated in their first regular season home game with the club. They included Brady Tkachuk, Lars Eller, Garnet Hathaway, Sam Lafferty and Bokondji Imama.

Radko Gudas and Jacob Markstrom appeared at home for their second stint with the franchise. 

     Minnesota (2-1-1) rushed out to a 1-0 lead just 53 seconds into the opening period. Matt Boldy carried the puck from his own blue line to the top of the Panthers zone. He then snapped a shot from the high slot past Markstrom for his first goal of the year. 

     The Wild expanded their lead to 2-0 with the man advantage at 6:18 of the first. Kirill Kaprisov released a snap shot from the xxxxx for his fourth goal of the campaign. 

     Florida(2-0-2)