When it comes to the Yankees, we are all Torontonians, eh?

The Florida Panthers, once the laughingstock of the sports world, are now the big, bad team everybody loves to hate. And they revel in playing the villain. My column from South Florida: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

Nazar's going to be a leader in the "entries leading to scoring chances" column if last night is any indication.

Paul Maurice on his big, bad Florida Panthers: "I’ve got more firemen than arsonists. I’m not saying I don’t have an arsonist or two, but I’ve got more firemen.” My column on the league's boogeymen, the team everyone loathes to hate: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

Dach skating with Bedard and Burakovsky on the top line. Donato moved to the third line with Dickinson and Mikeyhev.

Paul Maurice on his big, bad Florida Panthers: "I’ve got more firemen than arsonists. I’m not saying I don’t have an arsonist or two, but I’ve got more firemen.” My column on the league's boogeymen, the team everyone loathes to hate: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

Our @wpgmurat.bsky.social has some very specific predictions on the Jets this year, including exactly how many games Jonathan Toews will play: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

Is Connor McDavid’s new contract the biggest bargain in sports this century? If you ignore the NBA and Sidney Crosby, perhaps. www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

From Frank Nazar's big game to Artyom Levshunov's shaky start, @scottpowers.bsky.social makes some observations off last night's season-opening loss for the Blackhawks: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

The Florida Panthers, once the laughingstock of the sports world, are now the big, bad team everybody loves to hate. And they revel in playing the villain. My column from South Florida: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

Observations from the Blackhawks’ season-opening loss to the Panthers: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

ESPN using the Franz Ferdinand hook for their bumper music. Like that.

Brad Marchand on the Panthers' gaudy Cup rings: "Tough time to have little fingers."

FINAL: Blackhawks fall 3-2 to the Panthers. It was a scrappy effort, and Spencer Knight (34 saves) was excellent, but they were outclassed by the champs. Shots were 37-20 in favor of Florida.

Connor Bedard has won two of 14 faceoffs. He got pretty darn good at draws in the second half of last season, but that's not exactly an ideal start.

GOAL: Shortly after killing off a penalty, the Panthers take the lead 3-2. Puck bounced in off Boqvist's body.

END OF PERIOD 2: The Blackhawks are tied with the Panthers 2-2 despite being outshot 27-12. Hockey! Chicago had a chance to take the lead in the final minute, but Sergei Bobrovsky stoned Colton Dach after a slick feed from Connor Bedard.

Greer now down and in some pain after what looked like a sneaky stick from Levshunov.

Evan Rodirgues is being helped off the ice and heads right back to the locker room, very slowly and in obvious pain. That'd be a huge blow to the Panthers' depth down the middle, which obviously already has taken a big hit with the Barkov injury.

Frank Nazar is on pace for 246 points. Well, a lot more than that really, but I can't pro-rate off the top of my head.

GOAL: Teräväinen ties it 2-2.

END OF PERIOD 1 OF 246: The Blackhawks trail the champs 2-1. Frank Nazar got them out to an early lead, but Spencer Knight could only hold off the Panthers for so long. Shots are 17-3 in favor of Florida, and that doesn't include a post shot in the final minute.

Shots are 14-3 in favor of Florida. Spencer Knight is playing great but he's only one man.

GOAL: Spencer Knight's doing all he can, but he was just under siege. Verhaeghe with the PPG. 2-1 Panthers.

Artyom Levshunov had a turnover that led to a Panthers scoring chance on his first shift, and he just took his second penalty of the period. Gonna have to ride the snake a bit with him as he develops.

GOAL: Panthers answer right back. AJ Greer puts in a rebound. 1-1.

GOAL: Nazar finishes on the breakaway. Expect a lot of that this season. 1-0 Blackhawks.

Blackhawks penalty-kill rotation starts with Nazar and Teräväinen, then Dickinson and Mikheyev, then Foligno and Greene.

Spencer Knight gets a nice video tribute and a big standing ovation from the Florida faithful.

Panthers fans still yelling NIGHT during the anthem when Spencer Knight's on the other team is pretty funny.

OK, cool guy.

With Sasha Barkov hurt, Aaron Ekblad brings out the Stanley Cup ahead of the banner-raising ceremony here in South Florida.

The Panthers have come a long way, and are a model franchise. But I'll never not laugh when I see "Zimmerman" on the lower-bowl seats. This story I wrote a couple years back was a lot of fun: www.nytimes.com/athletic/453...

Blackhawks lineup in warmups Donato-Bedard-Burakovsky Teräväinen-Nazar-Bertuzzi Dach-Dickinson-Mikheyev Foligno-Greene-Lafferty Grzelcyk-Rinzel Kaiser-Levshunov Del Mastro-Murphy Knight Söderblom

Find out the story behind every Blackhawks player's jersey number with @scottpowers.bsky.social's latest: www.nytimes.com/athletic/667...

Kyle Davidson says that the Kaprizov and McDavid contracts feel like one-offs, unique situations, but it could take a while for things to normalize in a fast-rising-cap world. More in our opening-night live blog: www.nytimes.com/athletic/liv...

I hope this goes better than Saturday's preseason finale here did. Vlasic out. Could play in Boston, though.

Moving closer to autocracy and theocracy every day. Disheartening and despicable.

Every talented young player that comes to Florida gets "The Sam Reinhart Speech" from Paul Maurice. Because "the man is a unicorn." "He’s not going out there to score. He’s going out there to win." On perhaps the best two-way forward in the game: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

New POWERS & LAZ: @ByScottPowers and I run through the Blackhawks lines and pairings, discuss whether there are enough young guys in the lineup, and when more reinforcements will arrive. Quick! Listen before the puck drops and it's already obsolete! www.patreon.com/posts/its-op...

Reminder: The Athletic Hockey Show is now on YouTube. It'd be super cool if you watched, liked, subscribes, all that stuff. www.youtube.com/shorts/i9cOJ...

Busy few days for me in S. Florida. Catch up: Goonfest: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669... Jones: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669... Rings: www.nytimes.com/athletic/668... TAHS: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzuu... Reinhart: www.nytimes.com/athletic/669... Fun > fatigue www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

The Florida Panthers lost perennial Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov for the season. Yet they still might have the best defensive forward in the league. My story on Sam Reinhart, Florida's "unicorn": www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

This is the first game in postseason history where each team hit a 3-run home run (or grand slam) in the first inning

Cubs fans watching that Andrew Vaughn homer:

I love Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. But the four most important people to Mets fans are Gary, Keith, Ron and John DeMarsico. This video is great. SNY is the gold standard for all sports broadcasts. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MQQ...

A rat. A cat. Something that was drunkenly spat. Oh, and a lot of palm trees. Here are all the details of the Panthers' second Stanley Cup ring features: www.nytimes.com/athletic/668...

Bill "Bling" Zito.

The Panthers' Stanley Cup rings feature two Stanley Cups, and "We apologize to no one" is etched inside.

The Panthers' ring ceremony is under way.