The Florida Panthers didn’t just survive Opening Night in Raleigh with a 1-0 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes. They also got a useful early read on a brand-new fourth line that looked right at home in Paul Maurice’s system.
Lars Eller, Garnet Hathaway and Boko Imama were part of a reshaped Panthers lineup on Tuesday afternoon at Lenovo Center, and their first game together checked a lot of boxes. Florida leaned on its usual tight, aggressive defensive style, and that trio helped keep Carolina from finding any clean looks while they were on the ice.
That matters for a team built on rolling lines and keeping the legs fresh. Maurice’s five-man defensive structure asks plenty of everyone, and the fourth line’s job is to bring energy without getting sloppy. In this one, Florida’s newest unit did that work.
The advanced numbers backed it up. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Hurricanes did not record a scoring chance or a shot on goal while that line was out there. That’s about as clean a defensive result as a coach could ask for, especially against a Carolina team that can usually make life difficult at even strength.
The sample was small, though the circumstances were unusual. Florida and Carolina combined for 13 minor penalties and went 0-for-13 on the power play, so there weren’t many even-strength shifts to go around. Even so, when Maurice did send the line over the boards, it looked organized and responsible.
Three of their four faceoff starts came in the neutral zone, and the fourth came in the offensive zone. They weren’t being asked to live in danger territory, and they handled those deployments well.
The physical side showed up too. Eller, Hathaway and Imama finished with eight hits, one takeaway, one blocked shot and only one giveaway. Imama also dropped the gloves in the game’s lone fight, going at it with Carolina tough guy Nicolas Deslauriers.
For a first outing together, it was a solid debut for Florida’s new fourth line against one of the Eastern Conference’s better lineups. The Panthers now carry that look into the next stop on their season-opening four-game road trip, which continues in San Jose on Thursday night.
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