BOSTON – The names might be different, but the nastiness likely remains.
Opening up their six-game road trip with a battle against a bitter rival, the Florida Panthers will face-off against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Tuesday.
Sellers at last week’s trade deadline, the Bruins will take the ice without several of their former mainstays, including Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo and Brad Marchand.
Marchand, of course, is now on the other side as a member of the Panthers.
Week-to-week with an injury, the former Bruins captain skated this morning, but won’t play tonight.
Even with lineup changes, head coach Paul Maurice doesn't expect the game to lack any intensity.
“I think you’re going to find them to be a very structured, very hard team,” the Panthers bench boss said. “The players that will come in [for Boston] will have adhered to structure. That’s how they get into the NHL. I think they’re going to be as difficult to beat tonight as they’ve been. That’s the truth. Looking at how they played last game, their structure was real good. Their risk profile has changed, and it makes sense it would naturally change.”
Just like the Bruins, the Panthers will also have to make some adjustments.
With the NHL announcing on Monday that Aaron Ekblad has been suspended 20 games for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program, Seth Jones, a massive pre-deadline addition, will be elevated to the team’s top-defensive pair.
In three games since coming over in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, Jones, who had been on the second pair with Niko Mikkola, has posted a +2 plus/minus rating while averaging 21:03 per tilt.
With Ekblad out, Jones will now skate with Gustav Forsling and also quarterback the team’s top power-play unit.
“Next man up, that’s the system we play,” said Jones, who played a top-pair role with Chicago. “Obviously Aaron’s a big part of this team – special teams, 5-on-5, everything. It’s every defenseman’s job to be a little bit better, you know, 10-15% better and fill that void.”
Leading the Atlantic Division at 40-21-3, defense has certainly been key for the Panthers.
Carrying a six-game winning streak into Boston, the defending Stanley Cup champions have surrendered just one goal over their last four games, including closing out their homestand with a 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.
Overall, the Panthers lead 20-5 in goals during their six-game winning streak.
Getting the nod in net against the Bruins, Sergei Bobrovsky has gone 27-13-2 with a .907 save percentage this season. Earning shutouts in two of this last three starts, the two-time Vezina Trophy owns a 9-2-0 record with a .942 save percentage in his last 11 appearances.
“We’re prepping for playoff hockey right now,” forward Sam Bennett said. “Details have been pretty sharp the last couple games, and we’re going to keep trying to build off that.”
On the path to missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016, the Bruins currently sit four points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with a record of 29-28-8.
Despite dropping eight of their last 10 games, the Bruins enter tonight’s matchup feeling good following a 4-0 win on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
Cole Koepke scored twice in the win, while Jeremy Swayman posted a 25-save shutout.
Over Boston’s 2-6-2 stretch, the line between winning and losing has been razor thin.
Of those eight losses, seven have come by just one goal.
David Pastrnak leads the Bruins in goals (32), assists (47) and points (79). Moving up into second place on the team's scoring leaderboard with Marchand’s departure, Pavel Zacha has 39 points (12 goals, 27 assists). In third, Morgan Geekie has 35 points (22 goals, 13 assists).
Expected to man Boston’s crease, Swayman sits at 19-21-6 with a .898 save percentage.
Meeting for the fourth and final time this season, Florida has gone 2-0-1 against Boston in 2024-25.
“It’s going to have some juice, for sure,” Jones said. “It’s been a great rivalry the past few years between these two teams. I’m sure the environment is going to be great in the building and there will be no shortage of physicality tonight.”
THEY SAID IT
“You always have that energy in your own division. You play each other enough that the intensity is ramped up. We’ve got a whole bunch of teams that every game is what we went through two years ago – every game is life and death.” – Paul Maurice
“I think we’re better than before. We’ve got a lot of experience coming in, a lot of great guys. We feel ready. We’re excited to have a last push.” – Gustav Forsling
FIVE CATS STATS
- The Panthers have drawn the second most penalties in the NHL with 266.
- The Panthers are scoring an average of 3.40 goals per game on the road.
- Aleksander Barkov has tallied six points (3G, 3A) over the last four games.
- Sam Reinhart has scored a team-leading 17 goals at even strength.
- The Panthers rank second in the NHL with a 55.43 CF% at 5-on-5.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer – Nico Sturm – Tomas Nosek
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Seth Jones
Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis – Nate Schmidt
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
- March 7: Acquired forward Brad Marchand from the Boston Bruins for a conditional 2027 second-round selection
- March 6: Acquired Kaapo Kahkonen from the Winnipeg Jets for Chris Driedger
- March 6: Acquired Nico Sturm and a 2027 seventh-round selection from the San Jose Sharks for 2026 fourth-round selection
- March 5: Acquired Vitek Vanecek from the San Jose Sharks for Patrick Giles
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Tuesday, March 11 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden – Boston, MA
TV & Streaming: Panthers+, WSFL-TV, WHDT, WFTX, ESPN+ (out of market)
Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 1230 WBZT-AM & 92.1 WZZR-FM (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); Panthers App; SiriusXM App & Streaming 931
Cats on Tap: Click Here
