MIAMI — Paul Maurice took in the scene. As he and the rest of the Florida Panthers coaches rode a bus from their hotel to loanDepot park, home of the Miami Marlins, what at once seemed only fantastical was actually about to happen: An NHL outdoor hockey was about to be played in Florida.

“I took about 10 minutes just to think about that idea,” said Maurice, in his 28th season as an NHL head coach. “How much different the game was 30 years ago, 20 years ago.”

While the result of the game ended on a whimper for the home team — Florida lost 5-1 as the New York Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad scored a hat trick and Artemi Panarin logged two goals of his own — the night itself was a rousing success.

Playing under a picture-clear Miami skyline at a brisk 63 degrees at puck drop, in front of a sold-out baseball stadium with 36,153 fans (with what seemed like a 70-30 Panthers split), provided a snapshot of hockey’s growth in the Sunshine State.

“It just feels big,” Maurice said Thursday. “I remember coaching games in Miami 30 years ago when the rink was slush. That rink [at loanDepot park for the Winter Classic] is 10 times as good as the rink we played NHL games on in that old building down here. That’s how much the game has grown that you can have such a huge event.”

It also makes the Panthers wonder what more can be done. The ultimate goal for the team is to win Stanley Cups, which Florida has done each of the past two years, but there’s always more that can be attained for the growth of the sport in the area.

A platform like the Winter Classic does wonders for that.

“I do look at this event with enthusiasm, going, ‘OK, this is the beginning. What’s next?’ ” Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said before the game. “ ’What else can we do? What other fun, fantastic, wonderful days can we have as part of our mission as the Florida Panthers, as a pro sports team, as a hockey team in South Florida?’ So yeah, from that standpoint, it’s sort of like this just the beginning.”

The opening words from the loanDepot park emcee Friday night summed it up perfectly:

“They said it couldn’t be done. They said it shouldn’t be done. But tonight, history and tradition meet modern science here in the Sunshine State. Tonight, we defy nature itself as we take pro hockey outdoors here in the Magic City.”

And Miami flare was evident throughout.

The Panthers arrived to loanDepot park in Ferraris and Miami Vice-themed attire. Fans lined up the north side of the ballpark for their arrival, which Maurice said reminded him of a miniature version of the two Stanley Cup parades the past two Junes.

The NHL used fake snow during pregame introductions while Grammy-award winner Luis Fonsi performed. They made a split-field design to symbolize the warmth of Miami and the cold of New York during this time of year.

The spectacle on the field was truly a sight to see even if there was disappointment with the on-ice performance by the Panthers. Florida was shut out through 40 minutes before Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal 2:20 into the third period — a goal that set off fireworks from loanDepot park’s Home Run Harbor (renamed the Home Goal Harbor on this night) in left-center field where the famed home run sculpture used to be. That goal cut Florida’s deficit to 3-1 before New York tacked on two more goals to end the game.

“It was a great setup,” Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen said, “other than the score of the game. ... There was a lot of energy in the building. Just a pity we didn’t do better for them.”

Added Reinhart: “The league does a phenomenal job — year in, year out. You never know if you’re going to get an opportunity to do it once, so you never know if you’re going to be back again. It’s just disappointing we didn’t give [fans] a better result.”

But the Panthers also understand the big-picture look at the event.

Their elongated success over the past few years — under Maurice’s leadership behind the bench, Zito’s leadership in the front office and the players’ production in big games — helped make this possible. Their in-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning had a hand in it, too.

Florida and Tampa Bay have combined to be in the last six Stanley Cup Finals, winning four of them.

The Panthers have won the past two Stanley Cups and has been in the Stanley Cup Final the past three seasons. Home attendance and season-ticket sales is through the roof (Florida is averaging just shy of 19,000 fans per game at Amerant Bank Arena this season, averaging nearly a sellout every game). Youth hockey registration has increased exponentially. It gave the NHL a reason to try this crazy idea of playing outdoor hockey farther south than it has ever tried before — with the Panthers hosting the Winter Classic on Friday and Tampa Bay following suit on Feb. 1 with a Stadium Series game against the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“The results speak for themselves,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a pregame interview on TNT. “They have a great fan base down here in South Florida. Selling out this building was not an issue at all. We could have probably sold it out if it was twice as big.”

It didn’t always use to be like that.

For so many years, Panthers home games were a joke. Attendance was either ridiculously low or games were taken over by the opposing team. Panthers fandom was limited to the hardcore, those willing to struggle through what seemed like never-ending tough times.

Now, Florida is among the NHL’s elite, a perennial Cup contender.

How things have changed.

“You used to come down here and a lot of opposing teams would kind of take over the building,” said veteran forward Marchand, who on Friday played in his fourth career outdoor game after playing in three with the Boston Bruins. “And now it doesn’t matter where you go, the fan support is unbelievable, and this is just going to add to it. The two outdoor games that we play here, between here and Tampa, are just going to add more excitement, more love for the game. It’s going to give another opportunity for people to grow the sport.”

While the Panthers will like to move on from the result of the game itself, they won’t forget everything else that unfolded on Friday night at loanDepot park.

“It’s a great event,” said Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad, Florida’s second-longest tenured player who was taking part in his first career outdoor game. “It was an awesome experience. Really happy I was able to experience something like this. Would have loved to get a win, but at the end of the day, true first-class experience.”

Added Maurice: “Incredible memories. I’ve been to Europe three times with the Global Series. This is my third outdoor game. We’ve had a pretty good run here over the last few years in the playoffs. So I’ve gotten to see some pretty exciting nights in the National Hockey League, and I’m just grateful to be a part of it. Really impressed with the state of the game. And the show that they put on here, I thought it was spectacular. I imagine the Rangers really loved it. That’s how this works. But even for the losing coach, it was still an incredible memory.”

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