Florida ended the regular season on a 6-1-1 stretch
The Florida Panthers are entering the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs in a position teams strive to be in when the postseason begins.
Florida has been playing its best hockey of the season.
They are a team full of confidence and belief that taking down a historically good Boston Bruins team isn’t the remarkable feat that outsiders seem to think it would be.
It’s taken all year, but the Panthers are finally resembling the defensive-minded, tight checking squad Paul Maurice has been trying to curate since arriving in South Florida.
“We’re fully bought into our system, we have all the confidence in the world in it, it’s just a matter of executing it,” said Panthers winger Sam Reinhart.
Not only is Florida feeling good heading into Boston, riding a 6-1-1 record to close out the regular season, but the team is battle tested.
From injuries and illnesses to a less-than-favorable schedule, the Panthers have earned their right to fight for Lord Stanley’s Cup.
“We’re going in with some scars, which is good,” said Maurice.
The playoff series will be the first time Florida and Boston have met during the postseason since 1996.
It was the Panthers inaugural playoff series, one in which they defeated the Bruins in five games.
The series was highlighted by Ray Sheppard, who scored Florida’s first ever playoff goal and led all skaters in the series with eight points, and Bill Lindsay, the man whose diving, game-winning and series-clinching goal in Game 5 remains the most memorable moment in franchise history.
In all likelihood, it’s going to take an equally seminal moment, or moments, for the Panthers to come out on top this time around.
LINEUP UPDATES
Alex Lyon will remain in Florida's net for Game One against Boston. Over his last eight games, Lyon has gone 6-1-1 with a 1.87 goals against average and .943 save percentage.
No other lineup changes are expected. The healthy scratches should be Sam Bennett, Casey Fitzgerald and Zac Dalpe.
Bennett skated for the third straight day and is progressing toward joining a regular Panthers practice in the coming days.
"He needs two or three more days where he builds, and one or two heavy push days on the ice, and if he gets through that than he’ll come back in," Maurice said.
In terms of the forward lines, Anthony Duclair has been skating on the top line with Sasha Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe while Sam Reinhart has slotted onto the third unit with Eric Staal and Ryan Lomberg.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Paul Maurice on Florida handling the atmosphere in Boston: “I want them to take it in. I know that all the really smart guys do wonderful things to relieve the pressure on their team, but we’ve been in it, so it’s not a new experience. Now this will be a wild building, and loud, and that’s a lot of fun, too.”
Colin White on facing a hostile crowd in Boston: “I think we’ve played well on the road all year. I think we know how to handle it, we know what kind of crowd it’s going to be and it’s just going to be a lot of fun for us.”
Matthew Tkachuk on the difficulty of defeating Boston: “It’s going to take pretty much a perfect effort to win one game in this series against the talent and everything they have over there. I think everybody knows they’ve had the best season in NHL history, so it’s a great challenge for our team. We’re loose and we’re ready to go.
Maurice on Florida’s key to success: “The most important thing for our team is we have a game that we’ve been trying to build, and we worked hard to build this game, and we want to see it. That’s the most important thing. If we see our game, then we’ve got a chance.