Graphic design: Francisco Oporta
Friday’s acquisition of Brad Marchand (and Aaron Ekblad’s out-of-the-blue suspension) will add an extra layer of intrigue to the action when the Florida Panthers (40-21-3) open a six-game road trip against the Boston Bruins (29-28-8) tonight at TD Garden in Beantown.
The red-hot Panthers have won six in a row and capped off a perfect five-game homestand by crushing the will of the Buffalo Sabres in a 4-0 victory on Saturday. New goaltender Vitek Vanecek stopped 21 shots to become the third keeper in franchise history to record a shutout in his Florida debut. A.J. Greer, Carter Verhaeghe and Anton Lundell beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Sam Bennett scored his 20th goal into an empty net. Defenseman Nate Schmidt collected two assists and new forward Nico Sturm had a highly-effective first outing with the Cats, who won for the 40th time.
Fading Boston is just 2-6-2 in its last ten games, but managed to help the Panthers out with a surprising 4-0 upset over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena over the weekend that halted a three-game losing streak. Cole Koepke scored twice and Mark Kastelic and Nikita Zadorov also lit the lamp in the win. Jeremy Swayman made 26 saves to post his fourth shutout of the season.
- WHEN: 7 p.m. ET
- WHERE: TD Garden – Boston, MA
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, NESN
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 FM (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #NHLBruins, #FLAvsBOS, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Stanley Cup of Chowder
- SEASON SERIES: Game 4 of 4 (2-0-1)
- LAST MEETING: BOS 4, @FLA 3 (OT) – (Recap) 1/11/2025
- NEXT MEETING: Playoffs or 2025-26 season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (27-13-2 .907 / 2.49 4SO) Boston: Swayman (19-21-6 .898 / 2.93 4SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Boston
Tuesday in the NHL (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- OTTAWA (33-25-5 71P) at Philadelphia (27-30-8 62P) 7 p.m.
- TAMPA BAY (37-22-4 78P) at Carolina (38-22-4 72P) 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+, HULU)
- MONTREAL (30-27-6 66P) at Vancouver (29-23-11 69P) 10 p.m.
Idle: TOR (81P), DET (66P), BUF (56P)
