Florida Panthers Kick Off Title Defense Against Rival Boston Bruins
The Florida Panthers will raise their Stanley Cup banner against the rival Boston Bruins to add fuel to their Stanley Cup title defense.
FORT LAUDERDALE — Fittingly, the Florida Panthers will be raising their Stanley Cup banner in front of the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
There is a lot of history between the two sides.
For one, the Bruins are the only team the Panthers eliminated on both runs to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023 and 2024, but there is a lot of baggage that comes with that:
— A blown 3-1 series lead by the Bruins in the first round following the greatest regular season in NHL history.
— A big breakaway save to force by Sergei Bobrovsky overtime in Game 5 of 2023 followed by an overtime winner from Matthew Tkachuk.
— A Game 7 overtime winner from Carter Verhaeghe.
— A controversial “sucker punch” that Sam Bennett threw at Marchand to knock him out for most of the 2024 series.
When these two teams play, they play each other hard, and there is not a whole lot of love between them when they are out there on the ice.
“I think every time we play these guys, it’s always a battle and it’s always a really physical game,” Verhaeghe said. “They play really hard and it’s definitely a tough matchup this season, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, obviously.”
Added Jesper Boqvist: “It’s been a battle every game I’ve been in, for sure. And it’;s got to be good to be on this side now. It’s got to be a lot of fun.”
Tonight’s matchup between Florida and Boston will be the 22nd in the past two years — and they will face off for a 23rd next week — which will make for even more must-watch TV.
And it will only add even more fuel to the fire of the Panthers as they look to defend their Stanley Cup title.
“We played each other 21 times in the last two years and I would pay money to watch every one of those games,” coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s rarity for me that you walk off the bench after a loss and go ‘Man, I love that game.’ And that’s happened in a bunch of the Bruin games. Even in the playoffs, you just play so hard, so right, but I have a tremendous amount of respect for the way the bruins play the game and the way we play the game. It’s fun hockey.
“If you like some bumping, some grinding, but speed, skill and execution. I think the best hockey that I watch is from behind the bench in a Bruins game.”
THE NEWS
— Nate Schmidt will be a healthy scratch for the Panthers. Adam Boqvist and Uvis Balinksis will play on the bottom pairing.
— Joonas Korpisalo will start in net for the Boston Bruins after Jeremy Swayman missed all of training camp due to a contract dispute.
— Puck drop of tonight’s game will be at 7:25 p.m. following the team’s pre-game banner ceremony, which will happen after warm-ups.
— Tonight’s game will be broadcasted on both Scripps Sports and ESPN.
PANTHERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Carter Verhaeghe — Aleksander Barkov — Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Mackie Samoskevich
Jonah Gadjovich — Jesper Boqvist — A.J. Greer
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis — Adam Boqvist
Sergei Bobrovsky
Chris Driedger
Scratched: Nate Schmidt, MacKenzie Entwistle
Injured: Tomas Nosek, Justin Sourdif
BRUINS PROJECTED LINEUP
Pavel Zacha — Elias Lindholm — David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand — Charlie Coyle — Morgan Geekie
Max Jones — Trent Frederic — Justin Brazeau
John Beecher — Mark Kastelic — Cole Koepke
Hampus Lindholm — Charlie McAvoy
Mason Lohrei — Brandon Carlo
Nikita Zadorov — Andrew Peeke
Joonas Korpisalo
Jeremy Swayman
Scratched: Riley Tufte, Parker Wotherspoon
Injured: Matthew Poitras, Ian Mitchell, Alec Regula
(Lines via Fluto Shinzawa — The Athletic)