Bruins @ Panthers: Lines, Goalies, Betting Odds, How 2 Watch

SUNRISE — For the first time this season, the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins will take their rivalry to national TV.

And no, it’s no longer a joke to call this a rivalry.

It developed quickly after the Panthers came back from a 3-1 deficit to take down the Bruins in seven games for a first-round upset last spring.

“I think that rivalries are created in the playoffs and we had a very good series against them last year,” Matthew Tkachuk said.

“I don’t think one series makes for a rivalry, but right now, we are at the top of the standings and that’s going to make for a great game. So I know we’re excited right now. It’s a very big opportunity to show what we have against the top team in the NHL right now.”

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That one series was enough for Florida and Boston to earn top billing in the NHL’s annual slate of Thanksgiving week national TV games, which is usually a pretty big deal.

And to be fair to the NHL, the fracas from last year’s playoffs has carried into this season.

The Panthers and Bruins occupy the top two spots in the Atlantic Divison and already put on a show against each other earlier this season.

Boston got a little measure of revenge on Florida, coming back from an early two-goal deficit to win in overtime on Oct. 30.

The bad blood continued when Charlie McAvoy delivered a high hit to Oliver Ekman-Larsson that earned him a four-game suspension.

Even after Ekman-Larsson ended up returning for the next game, many around the Panthers were not happy with it.

But both of these teams are similar in a way.

They are both finding success despite missing significant pieces from last season.

For the Bruins, stars Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired while others like Dmitry Orlov, Tyler Bertuzzi and Taylor Hall left via free agency or trade.

And still, they have not missed a beat from their NHL record-breaking pace last season.

To this point, they’ve only lost one game in regulation and sit at 13-1-3.

Boston, of course, took its 3-1 series lead without Bergeron and Krejci in the lineup, so their success came as no surprise to Tkachuk.

“When they had those guys out, they were at their best last year,” he said. “Nothing against them, but I just think that caused the rest of the guys to work that much harder and they did it more collectively, kind of like they are doing this year.

“Obviously, they have Pastrnak lighting it up as he always does, but the rest of the lineup is very deep, and last year, they kicked our ass without those guys in the lineup in Games 3 and 4. They are more than capable of doing what they’ve been doing this year and they’ve down that, again, they’re a top team in the NHL for a reason.

The Panthers have shown a lot of similarities to the Bruins in that sense.

Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour missed the first 16 games of the year and the Panthers managed to go 10-5-1 without them.

When Sasha Barkov went down with a knee injury in the game their two star defensemen returned, Florida hunkered down and won its next two games.

Their mentality is very similar.

“We aspire to be like that,” Tkachuk said.

“We want to do it consistently, but if you look at a team like Boston and what they built, their culture, how hard they work, and how even the games they lose, they probably could win, you could argue they’re in pretty much every game they’re in and they are the toughest team to play.”

GAME NOTES

Sasha Barkov will miss his second-straight game with a knee injury.

He began skating and could possibly return on Friday against the Winnipeg Jets, per coach Paul Maurice.

Maurice said he would not play Barkov on Friday if he is not 100 percent, so his return could get pushed back to next week’s Canada trip.

— The expected starting goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky vs. Jeremy Swayman.

PANTHERS ON DECK

BOSTON BRUINS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• TV/Streaming: TNT, HBO Max
• Radio: WAXY 790-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (West Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); WCZR 101.7-FM (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932; NHL App
• App
• Local Odds — Bruins Favored: Money Line (-115); Puck line (-1.5, +200); Over/Under 6.5 (+100/-120)
• Last Season — Regular Season: Tied 2-2; Playoffs: Florida won 4-3 (first-round)
• This season — Bruins Lead 1-0: @Boston 3, Florida 2 OT (Oct.30), April 6; @Florida Wednesday, March 26
• All-time Regular Season Series: Boston leads 61-37-7, 6 ties
• All-time Postseason Series: Florida leads 2-0 (1996, 2023)
• Up Next for the Panthers: Friday vs. Winnipeg, 8 p.m.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (12-5-1) LINES

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart

17 Evan Rodrigues // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 68 Kevin Stenlund // 21 Nick Cousins

94 Ryan Lomberg // 18 Steven Lorentz // 12 Jonah Gadjovich

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 62 Brandon Montour

91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

41 Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Mike Reilly, Uvis Balinskis

Injured: Sasha Barkov (knee), Josh Mahura (knee-IR)

PROJECTED BOSTON BRUINS (13-1-3) LINEUP

63 Brad Marchand // 18 Pavel Zacha // 88 David Pastrnak

21 James van Riemsdyk // 13 Charlie Coyle // 11 Trent Frederic

43 Danton Heinen // 56 Matthew Poitras // 74 Jake DeBrusk

94 Jakub Lauko // 19 John Beecher // 62 Oskar Steen

6 Mason Lohrei // 73 Charlie McAvoy

27 Hampus Lindholm // 25 Brandon Carlo

28 Derek Forbort // 12 Kevin Shattenkirk

1 Jeremy Swayman

35 Linus Ullmark