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October 8, 2024, Presidential Campaign News What we know about the planned entertainment resort next to the A's baseball stadium

Sam Bennett scored two goals as the Florida Panthers opened their defense of their first Stanley Cup title with a 6-4 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night in Sunrise, Florida.

The Panthers also got goals from Eetu Luostarinen, Sam Reinhart (shorthanded), Jonah Gadjovich and Evan Rodrigues. Reinhart and Rodrigues each contributed an assist. Last season, Reinhart ranked second in the NHL with 57 goals.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves in the win.

Boston scored goals from Pavel Zacha (shorthanded), Charlie McAvoy, Trent Frederic and David Pastrnak (power play).

Bruins backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves in the loss. Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who ended his contract dispute on Sunday by signing an eight-year, $66 million contract, did not play because he is not yet in game shape.

Before Tuesday, Boston had won five straight season-opening games. The Bruins were eliminated from the playoffs by the Panthers in each of the last two seasons.

The Panthers dominated the first period on Tuesday, building a 4-1 lead.

Florida opened the game at 6:27 when Bennett pushed in a loose puck.

Just 64 seconds later, Luostarinen fired in another loose puck to give Florida a 2-0 lead.

Boston got on the board at 15:33 when, shorthanded, Zacha scored with a wrist shot that landed just under the crossbar.

Florida then scored two goals in the final 90 seconds of the quarter. First, Reinhart got past McAvoy and scored a shorthanded goal just over Korpisalo's left shoulder at 18:34. Then, with just 26 seconds left, Bennett grabbed a rebound.

With 9:12 left in the second period, Florida made it 5-1 when its fourth line came through. Gadjovich scored on the rush after a great pass from Jesper Boqvist, who played for the Bruins last season.

At 12:32 of the second period, Boston was able to cut its deficit to 5-2 with McAvoy's goal off a rebound.

The Panthers took a 6-2 lead at 6:26 of the third period when Rodrigues scored with a wrist shot over Korpisalo's stick.

Boston finished the game well, Frederic scored with 3:09 left and Pastrnak tied it with 1:45 left, but Florida held on for the win.

Carter Verhaeghe signs extension

After the game, the Panthers announced that they had signed forward Carter Verhaeghe to an eight-year extension. It starts next season and costs an average of $7 million per year.

On By John Fenwick

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