Brothers Jesper, Adam Boqvist Connect on Goal for 'First Time' With Florida Panthers

Brothers Adam and Jesper Boqvist connected on a goal for what they said was the 'first time' ever. And both of them made a case for a big role on the Florida Panthers moving forward.

In their Florida Panthers preseason debuts, Adam and Jesper Boqvist connected on a goal in a 6-2 thumping of the Nashville Predators.

And it was a special one.

On the power play, Adam fired a shot from the point that Adam got ahold of and deflected past Nashville goalie Scott Wedgewood to put the Panthers ahead 3-0 in the first period.

The two brothers cracked a smile together and shared a fist bump on the ice for the first time since their days playing in Sweden as kids.

“I always love scoring goals, and coming from him, it makes it even better,” Jesper Boqvist said. “It was good one, for sure.”

According to Adam, it was the first time they ever connected on a goal together.

“I don’t think we’ve ever done it before,” he said. “So, that was pretty crazy. It’s pretty surreal to go through it, but I’m sure we’re gonna get used to it.”

Playing in the NHL was a lifelong dream for the two brothers, and ran with it when they were given the chance to do so for the defending Stanley Cup champions.

“Growing up, we always dreamt of it,” Jesper said. “Playing over here and now doing it together, it’s pretty crazy. And we’re super thankful for the opportunity and we have to make the most of it.”

Added Adam: “Since we signed, we were wanting to get here as fast as we could just to get it going. We’ve always wanted to play together one way or another, but we didn’t think it was going to come this early. But we’re happy, and obviously, as brothers, we know when to push each other and stuff like that.”

Both brothers will have a chance to play a significant role for the Panthers this year.

For one, they both got power play time — and connected on that power play goal — in a game where the Panthers went 3-for-3 with the man advantage.

Adam also got a goal of his own, firing home a quick wrist shot off the crossbar and in off of a slick feed from Jonah Gadjovich to make it a 6-1 game with 9:38 to go.

That bodes well for him, as he is competing for a spot to quarterback the power play from the point after the departures of Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

“There’s so many skilled guys out there, so you just gotta give it to the skill guys,” Boqvist said.

“I’ve been playing on the point almost since I came into the NHL. I played with some really good players like Johnny Gaudreau and Patrick Kane, so it’s fun to be out there with those guys and let them do their thing.”

It is still a very open competition between Adam Boqvist, Nate Schmidt and Aaron Ekblad for the role as the point man on the top power play unit.

“We’ve got three players that have played together for a really long time against a group of penalty killers that haven’t killed as a group ever,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I liked the way he moved the puck across the line, I like the decisions he made with the puck, the pace he is at, but I think we knew that. But scoring goals is still more fun than not so they get to feel good tonight.”

Jesper showed off his versatility in this game.

He may have been brought in primarily to help rebuild the fourth line after most of the pieces from it departed either via free agency or retirement (in Kyle Okposo’s case) this summer, but he really can do more.

Jesper is a fast skater with offensive talent, and as he showed, is capable of being an option for the second power play unit. He also moved from the wing to center when Tomas Nosek left the game with an injury in the first period.

“We didn’t have too many shifts together, but hopefully he’s alright,” Jesper said of Nosek.

“But then, I was shuffling around a little bit to play with everyone. Nothing is set in stone, right? You got to be able to play with everyone, so it was good. Especially in this camp where it seems like there’s a lot of guys competing for a couple spots.”