Confident Panthers host Bruins in Game 3 looking to pounce on home ice advantage

Florida forced split in Boston, playing two solid road games against league-best Bruins

The Florida Panthers enter Game 3 of their opening round series with the Boston Bruins in an interesting position.

Generally speaking, there is nothing particularly unique about hosting a third game after forcing a road split of the first two matchups.

When you do it as an eight seed against the Presidents’ Trophy winner, it garners a bit more attention.

The Panthers were one of the best teams in the league toward the end of the regular season.

Boston was best team in the league from start to finish, and it was never really close.

The Panthers are finally healthy after enduring a myriad of injuries and illnesses and navigating an extremely challenging schedule.

Boston has been dealing with some kind of bug in its locker room, and an injury to team captain Patrice Bergeron that has kept him from each of the first two games.

Momentum would seem to be on Florida’s side.

Pulling out a win on Friday night in front of their home fans would be huge for the Panthers, and it would put an entirely different view on the series as a whole.

Prior to the start of the postseason, when polling the national pundits and talking heads, it wasn’t a question of who would win the series, it was more about how many games it would take for Boston to advance.

Suddenly the Panthers are making the record-breaking Bruins look human.

Is that a trend that will continue?

LINEUP NOTES

There shouldn’t be any changes with the Panthers unless something popped up between games.

The only question is which lines Sam Reinhart and Anthony Duclair end up on, the top line with Sasha Barkov and Eetu Luostarinen or the third line alongside Anton Lundell and Ryan Lomberg.

Alex Lyon will once again get the nod in the Panthers’ cage. He’s been outstanding and will need to remain at that level if Florida is going to contend with the Bruins.

MORNING SKATE UPDATE

No changes for Florida as the Panthers will roll with same lineup in Game 3 as they did on Wednesday.

On the Boston side, they will once again be without their captain Patrice Bergeron. He’ll miss both Game 3 and 4 as he did not travel with the team to South Florida, per Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery.

Goaltender Linus Ullmark will be a game-time decision. If he can’t go, Jeremy Swayman will get the nod for Boston.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Carter Verhaeghe on what went right in Game 2: “I think we played a detailed game. I think our penalty kill came up pretty big there and we got a couple goals and we were on them, we were on the pucks. Want to play like that all time.”

Sam Bennett on the keys to victory in Game 3: “Getting on the forecheck, playing hard and finishing checks. We did a good job with that last game, so we're going to want to do a lot more of that.”

Paul Maurice on what Sam Bennett brings to the table: “Consistency in his intensity. He plays very hard every shift. All over the ice, Sam as a very present player. When a puck is in our end, he’s not thinking about going the other way. You just get the job (done), It's right in front of you. And he's overly aggressive at times, but he's very consistent with his presence on the ice.”