Bruins drop season opener against Panthers

It was the start of the season for both teams.

Sam Bennett scored two goals, and Sam Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who raised their Stanley Cup championship banner before the game. Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves.

“You would like to think you know what your team is going to look like in the opening game, and you never know,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “That’s what keeps you up the night before the opener. But we looked right, and fast and fast. … We ran well and it was definitely the banner. But it was also the fans, right? They were wired and there was a lot of hustle and bustle in the building. We played that out. There was a lot of energy for that.”

Charlie McAvoy had a goal and an assist for the Bruins. David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha and Trent Frederic also scored.

Jeremy Swayman didn't play after missing all of training camp before signing an eight-year, $66 million contract on Sunday. Joonas Korpisalo, acquired June 24 in a trade with the Ottawa Senators for goaltender Linus Ullmark, allowed six goals on 35 shots.

“We weren't good enough in so many areas tonight,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “They were. Their execution was really good and ours was really bad. I can't say exactly why we looked slow, but we looked slow throughout the game, not just the first ten minutes.”