FORT LAUDERDALE – It’s hard to beat getting an entire sold-out crowd on its feet as a first impression.

In a game that already had all the juice – between opening night, a Stanley Cup championship banner raising and the rivalry battle of Florida versus Boston – new Panthers forward A.J. Greer brought Amerant Bank Arena up a level early during a 6-4 win over the Bruins on Tuesday night.

“It felt amazing,” Greer said following Wednesday’s practice at Baptist Health IcePlex. “Energy was great, building was buzzing, and we came out hot. We stuck to the game plan. It was great to get to W. Coming out of training camp, you’re a little sluggish because you went really hard, but now we got all our energy back. We got the first one, so we got 81 more to go.”

Less than six minutes into the game, after a hit from Boston’s Mark Kastelic on linemate Jesper Boqvist, Greer got to hear how loud South Florida can get as he went toe-to-toe with Kastelic.

Following a few big punches, it was the home team’s fighter that came out on top.

Welcome to the Cats, A.J. Greer! pic.twitter.com/S1IclSj5ze

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) October 8, 2024

“The place was so loud,” Greer said with a smile. “Once you sit down in the penalty box, you start hearing it. Just with the flow of the game and how it all went down, I think that it was the right time to kind of step up. It was eventually going to happen at some point in that game, so might as well get it out early. It was a good fight, and we fed off that energy. We got two quick goals right after that.”

It also likely won’t be his last fight this season.

“I’m out there to defend my teammates,” Greer said.

Playing with Boqvist and Jonah Gadjovich, who also knows how to dance when the opposition wants to get tough, the three brought energy into the building with more than just physicality.

Showing how deep this year’s team can be, each forward on the fourth line recorded a point (goal from Gadjovich, assists from Greer and Boqvist), helping the Panthers to a 1-0-0 start to the season.

“The quality of the play was really, really high,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the fourth line. “There was some speed on that to the net and lots of nice patience by Boqvist. We think he’s got a real good set of hands, but both the other two (Greer and Gadjovich) were two feet from the paint. They weren’t opening up to the far side. They went right to the net, so there’s something there.”

Joining the Panthers on a two-year contract this summer, Greer, who measures up at an imposing 6-foot-3 and 209 pounds, had previously appeared in 168 games over parts of seven NHL campaigns.

In that time, he tallied 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists) and 567 penalty minutes.

Despite being a new guy, he’s already picked up and bought in to playing “Panthers Hockey.”

“It’s a collective buy-in to both the systems, the intensity and the hard work that comes with it,” the 27-year-old forward said. “It’s not going to be easy to get any win, to win any hockey game, but if we’re able to be comfortable in that chaos, and we’re able to execute in those tough times, we’ll figure out ways to win and we have the tools to do that.”

With a matchup against the Ottawa Senators coming up on Thursday — a battle that always seems to have some fireworks — it should be a perfect game for Greer and the fourth line to bring it again.