After long wait, Panthers set to host Bruins in Game 1 of playoff rematch
This will be the third time Florida and Boston have met in the postseason
It’s been seven days since the Florida Panthers last played a hockey game.
Last Monday, Florida defeated Tampa Bay in Game 5 of their Stanley Cup opening round playoff series, eliminating the Lightning and advancing to round two.
Since then, they’ve been spending time at home in South Florida, practicing at their new training facility in Fort Lauderdale, resting, healing, and waiting for the second round of the playoffs to arrive.
That time has finally come.
The Panthers will hit the ice on Monday at Amerant Bank Arena for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Bruins.
As a reminder, the reason Florida gets to host Games 1 and 2 is because the Panthers finished the season 5-0-1 and leapfrogged the Bruins, who lost three of their final four and came up one point behind the Cats after 82 games.
The second round matchup is a rematch of last year’s opening round series in which (in case you forgot, which you most certainly did not), Florida came back from a 3-1 series deficit, including overtime wins in Boston in Game 5 and Game 7. It’s also the third time the Cats and Cubs have met in met in the postseason; Florida’s first ever playoff series back in 1996 was against the Bruins. The Panthers won that series in five games.
Florida enters this series nearly at full strength, with center Sam Bennett the only player on the active roster unfit to play in Game 1.
Bennett suffered an upper-body injury after being hit by a Brandon Montour slapshot during Game 2 against Tampa Bay and has not played since.
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said on Sunday that Bennett would not play in Game 1, but after that he would be considered day-to-day.
“He’s at, or probably better, than I hoped he would be,” Maurice said.
In goal, Maurice and the Panthers will turn back to Vezina Trophy finalist Sergei Bobrovsky.
Bob was solid for Florida during their opening round victory over the Lightning, coming up with several big saves in key moments for the Panthers.
He was particularly good on home ice, holding a perfect 3-0 record along with a tidy 1.65 goals against average and .932 save percentage.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Game 1 against Boston:
Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues – Kevin Stenlund – Vladimir Tarasenko
Nick Cousins – Steven Lorentz – Kyle Okposo
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
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