Panthers put their first banner in the rafters, thrilling Florida fans. Can they do it again?

SUNRISE, Fla. – Hockey is back in Sunrise and there’s joy in the air as the Florida Panthers put their first-ever championship banner in the rafters in their home opener Oct. 8 against the Boston Bruins.

Last season, the Panthers captured their first-ever Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in a back-and-forth series. Once the final horn blew, Panther fans finally could call themselves Stanley Cup champions.

“It was one of the best sports moments of my life,” said Steven Elseman who’s been supporting the Panthers since their inaugural season in 1993.  Elseman, a former Rangers’ fan who migrated to Florida, was at the Stanley Cup Finals in 1997, when the team lost the series in overtime. 

“I’ve been waiting to get back from that one,” added Elseman, wearing a windbreaker with the Panther logo. “I’d hope at some point we would be champions. I didn’t think we would wait this long.”

Before the glory days for this franchise, the word success would hardly ever be used when talking about the Panthers. From 2000 to 2018 the team only made the playoffs twice, losing in the first round both of these times.

The days were gloomy. The Panthers consistently ranked towards the bottom of the league not only in wins, but also average attendance. 

“They would do anything to get people to attend the games,” said Keith Rabinowitz, 35. “They would bring a losing lottery ticket to come see the games for free.”

Back in 2014 to get people to attend the games, The Panthers would team up with the Florida Lottery. The promotion was that the team would accept $10 worth of scratch off tickets for exchange of tickets to the games that season.   

Now the Panthers don’t have to worry about putting people in seats as they ranked in the top ten in average attendance last season and sold out their home opener this year. 

“Season tickets used to be $132 for the whole year. Now just to get into this game tonight it’s $189. So you can see how far the team has come up just from that and now people are dying to come,” said Rabinowitz, who was wearing a Sam Reinhart jersey. Reinhart scored the cup-winning goal in June. 

Usually a game against the Bruins would mean that half the arena would be yellow and bright, but not tonight. An ocean of red could be seen in the crowd with not much yellow in sight. 

As Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov came out and hoisted the Stanley Cup one final time for the fans, the moment finally came, time to raise the banner. 

Not a single person was sitting down, even some Bruins fans were applauding. Panther fans were letting out tears of joy that finally they witnessed their team win the big one.

The players on the ice were holding each other shoulder to shoulder. Nothing but smiles from the boys as they finally conquered what they’ve been working for all their life.

As far as the game went, the Panthers won 6-4, capping off what was a night of celebration and jubilation for everyone in attendance, minus some Bruins fans. The Panthers scored four goals in the first period and didn’t look back from there. Panther center Sam Bennet led the team in scoring that night with two goals.

The Panthers are looking to win back-to-back Stanley Cups and be the first team to do it since their cross-state rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, did it back in 2020 and 2021. For sure there’s a point to prove as they try to escape from the Lightning's shadow and keep Sunrise’s home team in the spotlight.