Aleksander Barkov ended last season by hoisting the Stanley Cup, as the Florida Panthers fans got to roar in delight. And this season started the same way. Barkov, the Panthers' captain, skated the Cup onto the ice Tuesday night moments before Florida hoisted its first championship banner to the rafters -- with players all arm-in-arm as they gazed at the building's newest memento.

Freedom was the word that Florida coach Paul Maurice kept saying to his team over the final days of the Stanley Cup Final. Play with freedom, he said. He wanted the team loose, to remember that the work had been done, to trust what had gotten the Panthers to the final and helped them take a 3-0 lead.