Panthers lift their championship banner, capping their Stanley Cup celebrations

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — 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. The Panthers posed with the Cup one more time after the banner made its 2-minute trip skyward, and then, finally, it was time for a new season to begin with a season-opener against the Boston Bruins.

“Now we get to try to chase it again,” Barkov said.

They played Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on the giant video screens over the ice before warmups, fans cheering again when Sam Reinhart scored the go-ahead goal and getting even louder when the final seconds where shown.

And then came the real ovation — when the final part of the Cup celebration came and the banner took its place in the rafters. Florida sent the fans home happy, scoring four first-period goals and beating the Bruins 6-4.

“I kind of felt like that was the closing to last season,” Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said. "It was cool to see that go up. And then we kind of flipped the page immediately and we got to our game.”

The pregame ceremony capped 3 1/2 months of reveling in the franchise's first title. Players, coaches and some staff got their championship rings on Monday in a private ceremony, then gazed skyward Tuesday when the banner was raised. Also getting replica rings: 158 season-ticket holders that the Panthers call “legacy members,” who have had tickets with the franchise since its inaugural season.

“The fans will really enjoy the banner,” said Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe, who had the first goal of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to help Florida beat Edmonton 2-1 for the title on June 24. “Looking up there, I guess if you need a little inspiration, you just look up there and see what we accomplished.”

For the championship banner, the Panthers decided upon one with a white background, the words “Stanley Cup Champions” in red at the top, “2024” in red at the bottom, with the image of the Cup in the center just above the team's logo. It was hoisted over the end of the ice where Florida kept the puck pinned along the boards as the final seconds of Game 7 ran off and a championship celebration 30 years in the making got underway.

The other banners from last season — commemorating the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference titles — were already in the rafters, alongside two other conference title banners, three others for division championships and one for winning the Presidents' Trophy as the best regular-season team in 2021-22.

It was a summer filled with plenty of joy for Florida, as the Cup made its tour to the homelands of most players so it could be shared with friends and family. It all started with a parade with an estimated crowd of 300,000 braving thunder, lightning and a downpour, and the Cup made countless appearances in South Florida and beyond over the past few weeks.

As fun as it was, Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said it's time to pivot to a new season — something he thinks players began doing weeks ago, even before training camp started.

“I think, at least for me, I'm already there,” Zito said. “I'm just so excited for an NHL game tonight. I can tell you, I thought that yesterday before the rings. And then when I opened the box, it was one of those surreal moments. We used the word ‘speechless.’ I was speechless. And it was pretty neat to have that happen.”

The banner hoisting was preceded by the showing of a highlight video capturing the key moments from last season's run to the championship. And then Game 1 of a new season went just as Florida would have wanted.

“There was great energy in the building tonight,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

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The Florida Panthers raise their Stanley Cup championship banner before the start of the NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)

The Florida Panthers raise their Stanley Cup championship banner before the start of the NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)

The Florida Panthers raise their Stanley Cup championship banner before the start of the NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)

The Florida Panthers raise their Stanley Cup championship banner before the start of the NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)

Panthers lift their championship banner, capping their Stanley Cup celebrations

Panthers lift their championship banner, capping their Stanley Cup celebrations

FILE - Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) lifts the Stanley Cup trophy after Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, on June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has arrested an Afghan man who officials say was inspired by the Islamic State militant organization and was plotting an Election Day attack targeting large crowds in the U.S., the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City told investigators after his arrest Monday that he had planned his attack to coincide with Election Day next month and that he and a co-conspirator expected to die as martyrs, according to charging documents.

Tawhedi, who arrived in the U.S. in September 2021, had taken steps in recent weeks to advance his attack plans, including by ordering AK-47 rifles, liquidating his family's assets and buying one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan, officials said.

The arrest comes as the FBI confronts heightened concerns over the possibility of extremist violence on U.S. soil, with Director Christopher Wray telling The Associated Press in August that he was "hard pressed to think of a time in my career where so many different kinds of threats are all elevated at once.”

“Terrorism is still the FBI’s number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people,” Wray said in a statement Tuesday.

An FBI affidavit does not reveal precisely how Tawhedi came onto investigators' radar, but cites what it says is evidence from recent months showing his determination in planning an attack. A photograph from July included in the affidavit depicts a man investigators identified as Tawhedi reading to two young children, including his daughter, “a text that describes the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife.”

Officials say Tawhedi also consumed Islamic State propaganda, contributed to a charity that functions as a front for the militant group and communicated with a person who the FBI determined from a prior investigation was involved in recruitment and indoctrination of people interested in extremism. He also viewed webcams for the White House and the Washington Monument in July.

Tawhedi's alleged co-conspirator was not identified by the Justice Department, which described him only as a juvenile, a fellow Afghan national and the brother of Tawhedi's wife.

After the two advertised the sale of personal property on Facebook, the FBI enlisted an informant last month to respond to the offer and strike up a relationship. The informant later invited them to a gun range, where they ordered weapons from an undercover FBI official who was posing as a business partner of the informant, according to court papers.

Tawhedi was arrested Monday after taking possession of two AK-47 rifles and ammunition he had ordered, officials said. The unidentified co-conspirator was also arrested but the Justice Department did not provide details because he is a juvenile.

After he was arrested, the Justice Department said, Tawhedi told investigators he had planned an attack for Election Day that would target large gatherings of people.

Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, which is designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

He appeared in court Tuesday and was ordered detained. An email to an attorney listed as representing him did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

A for-sale sign stood in the yard outside a modest, two-story brick home listed as being connected to Tawhedi’s family in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore.

A woman who identified herself as Tawhedi’s wife declined to discuss the case.

“We don’t want to talk in the media,” said the woman, who did not give her name.

Tawhedi entered the U.S. on a special immigrant visa in 2021 and has been on parole status pending the conclusion of his immigration proceedings, the Justice Department said. The program permits eligible Afghans who helped Americans, despite great personal risk to themselves and their loved ones, to apply for entry into America with their families.

Eligible Afghans include interpreters for the U.S. military as well as individuals integral to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. While the program has existed since 2009, the number of applicants skyrocketed after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

Shawn VanDiver, the president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of organizations dedicated to helping Afghans trying to leave Afghanistan, said that though the charges are serious, “it’s critical that we do not assign blame to an entire community for the actions of one individual. Thousands of Afghans who resettled in the United States are working to build new lives and contribute to our shared future.”

“These are the same individuals who stood shoulder to shoulder with us in Afghanistan for over two decades, defending the values we hold dear,” he said in a statement. “Now, they are our neighbors, and we must support them as they seek safety and stability in their new home.”

Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana in Washington and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

The criminal complaint, filed by the Justice Department, against Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27,of Oklahoma City is photographed Tuesday, Oct. 8, after the FBI arrested the man who officials say was inspired by the Islamic State militant organization and was plotting an Election Day attack targeting large crowds in the U.S. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)