2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Playoff GameDay No. 5: Lines, Betting Odds for Panthers at Bruins
With the season on the line heading into Game 5 against the Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice would not offer up any information on his lineup.
“Everyone’s healthy, everyone’s game-time. I’ll give you the truth later,” Maurice said.
That includes his goaltender, which he said he did not yet decide before the Panthers flew out to Boston on Tuesday afternoon.
Whatever that decision ends up being, it is one their entire season hinges on.
And looking at their history, this is a team that has not had much luck going into games like this.
Since their first playoff appearance with Sasha Barkov and Aaron Ekblad in 2015-16, Florida is 2-4 in win-or-go-home playoff games.
Their only two wins came during the two COVID-shortened seasons via a Game 3 win over the Islanders in 2021 and Spencer Knight’s stellar Game 5 performance in 2021 against the Lightning.
“This is different because this is an elimination game, but we’ve been in so many games that we’ve probably viewed as such [this season],” Maurice said. “They understand what it’s like on the bus coming to this game. They’ll be excited.”
Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron is a game-time decision to return from an upper-body injury after missing the first four games of the series, per Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now.
Bergeron spoke with the media on Tuesday, saying he “was not anticipating any setbacks” after taking the ice for practice with the rest of the team.
David Krejci will miss a third-straight game with an upper-body injury he sustained ahead of Game 3 in Sunrise.
Ekblad and Anthony Duclair will both be back in the Florida lineup after missing Game 4 with injuries.
FLORIDA PANTHERS ON DECK
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS, ROUND 1
BOSTON BRUINS (ATL1) VS. FLORIDA PANTHERS (WC2)
GAME 5 (Boston Leads 3-1)
- When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Boston Garden
- TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, ESPN
- Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
- DraftKings odds — Bruins Favored: Money Line (-245); Puck line (-1.5, +105); Over/Under 6.5 (-120/+100). Series: Boston -3000/Florida +1500.
- Regular Season Series (Tied 2-2): @Boston 5, Florida 3 (Oct. 17); @Florida 5, Boston 2 (Nov. 23); @Boston 7, Florida 3 (Dec. 19); @Florida 4, Boston 3 OT (Jan. 28)
- Last Season: Boston won 2-1
- All-time Regular Season Series: Boston leads 60-38-6, 6 ties
- Playoff History (Florida leads 1-0): Panthers 4-1, 1996 (first round)
- First Round Schedule — Game 1: @Boston 3, Florida 1; Game 2: Florida 6, @Boston 3; Game 3: Boston 4, @Florida 2; Game 4: Boston 6, @Florida 2; Game 5: at Boston, Wednesday, 7 (BSF, ESPN); Game 6*: at Florida, Friday; Game 7*: at Boston, Sunday, April 30. (*) — If Necessary.
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINEUP
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 10 Anthony Duclair
94 Ryan Lomberg // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart
21 Nick Cousins // 12 Eric Staal // 6 Colin White
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
18 Marc Staal // 62 Brandon Montour
28 Josh Mahura // 7 Radko Gudas
34 Alex Lyon
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Mike Benning, Evan Fitzpatrick, Givani Smith, Casey Fitzgerald, Zac Dalpe
Returned to Charlotte: Lucas Carlsson
Injured: Patric Hornqvist (LTIR-concussion)
*Starting goaltender, Bennett and Lomberg are all game-time decisions.
PROJECTED BOSTON BRUINS LINEUP
59 Tyler Bertuzzi // 37 Patrice Bergeron // 88 David Pastrnak
71 Taylor Hall // 18 Pavel Zacha // 74 Jake DeBrusk
63 Brad Marchand // 13 Charlie Coyle // 17 Nick Foligno
94 Jakub Lauko // 92 Tomas Nosek // 21 Garnet Hathaway
48 Matt Grzelcyk // 73 Charlie McAvoy
27 Hampus Lindholm // 25 Brandon Carlo
81 Dmitry Orlov // 28 Derek Forbort
35 Linus Ullmark
1 Jeremy Swayman
Injured: David Krejci (UBI)
*Bergeron (UBI) is a game-time decision.
