Boqvist scores go-ahead goal as Cup champ Panthers beat Blackhawks on banner-raising night

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Jesper Boqvist scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Florida Panthers, after raising their second straight Stanley Cup banner, opened defense of the title by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Mackie Samoskevich – getting his second assist, the fifth two-point game of his career – chipped the puck toward the goal and Boqvist knocked it out of the air for the lead with 10:20 left. A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe also had goals for Florida, which got 18 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for Chicago. Former Panthers goalie Spencer Knight made 34 saves for the Blackhawks.

PENGUINS 3, RANGERS 0

NEW YORK (AP) – Justin Brazeau scored twice, Arturs Silovs stopped all 25 shots he faced for his first regular-season NHL shutout, and Pittsburgh beat New York in each team’s opener.

Dan Muse won his debut as Penguins coach with his predecessor, Mike Sullivan, on the other bench running his first game with the Rangers. Sullivan guided Pittsburgh to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and ’17 as part of a nearly decade-long run there before parting ways in April.

Brazeau and Silovs were also playing for the Penguins for the first time. Brazeau signed as a free agent, while Silovs joined in a trade from Vancouver.

Evgeni Malkin led off his 20th season in the league by setting up Brazeau’s goal. Malkin beat Vincent Trocheck on an offensive zone faceoff to get the puck to Brazeau, who was alone in front and roofed a backhander past Igor Shesterkin.