The Panthers began play during the 1993-94 season, taking to the ice for the first time on October 6, 1993, with a 4-4 tie on the road against the Chicago Blackhawks. Their first win came three nights later in a 2-0 shutout of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Thunderdome before a then-NHL record crowd of 27,227.

An unusual goal celebration developed in Miami during the 1995-96 season. On the night of the Panthers' home opener, a rat scurried across the team's locker room. Scott Mellanby reacted by "one-timing" the rat against the wall, killing it. That night, he scored two goals, which goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck quipped was "a rat trick." Two nights later, as the story made its way through the local media, fans began throwing rubber rats on the ice in celebration of a goal. The rubber rat count went from 16 for the third home game to over 2,000 during the playoffs.

In the 1996 playoffs, as the fourth seed in the East, the Panthers faced the Boston Bruins in the first round and won in five games. Bill Lindsay's famous series-clinching goal is still a trademark image for the incredible run the third-year franchise went on, upsetting the two top seeds before losing to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Finals.

On December 16, 2014, Nick Bjugstad scored the game-winning goal in the longest shootout in NHL history to lift the Florida Panthers over the Washington Capitals 2-1. Bjugstad's goal came in the 20th round, beating Braden Holtby on the right side. The previous record was 15 rounds.

Stanley C. Panther is named after both Florida's state animal (the Florida panther) and hockey's greatest prize, the Stanley Cup.

Jonathan Huberdeau was selected third overall by the Panthers in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. He scored his first NHL goal on January 19, 2013, against Cam Ward of the Carolina Hurricanes on the first shot of his NHL career. He finished the season with 14 goals and 31 points, winning the 2013 Calder Memorial Trophy.

The most prevalent aspects of Pavel Bure's game were his skating speed, agility, and acceleration. According to one columnist, he was "the fastest Soviet creation since Sputnik," which earned him his nickname: "The Russian Rocket".

Peter Worrell was considered one of the most feared enforcers in the game, leading the NHL in penalty minutes in 2001-02 when he spent a franchise-record 354 minutes in the sin bin.

In 2005-06, Roberto Luongo recorded 35 wins, breaking Vanbiesbrouck's 27-win single-season Panthers mark, set in 1996-97.

On November 30, 2009, goaltender Tomas Vokoun had just given up a goal to Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers and teammate Keith Ballard went to break his stick on the goal post in frustration, but caught Vokoun instead. Vokoun was carried off the ice on a stretcher and treated at a nearby hospital.