Florida Panthers
Florida Panthers Living Rent-Free in Heads of the Boston Bruins

The only way the rivalry between the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins could get any better is if we put them both in a time machine and went back to the ‘Original Six’ Era.
Back then, NHL teams played each other 14 times in a season, including many back-to-back games with one another.
Would the animosities be any greater than the Bruins and Panthers have shown early in this season?
In the old days, we would have had twelve more games to look forward to this season.
Unfortunately, these two adversaries meet only twice more this season.
The next soirée between the Panthers and Bruins does not come until January in Sunrise.
The two play their final game of the regular season in March at the friendly TD Garden, also known as ‘North Sunrise.’
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The Panthers are not exactly welcomed guests at the Garden — where the Panthers followed up their 6-4 win in last week’s opener with a 4-3 victory on Monday afternoon.
In the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Panthers beat the Bruins in each of their past six playoff visits to the Bruins’ North Station home going back to Game 2 of the first-round in 2023.
The normally methodic Bruins try to revert to their old “Big Bad Bruins” persona when they see the red on the Panthers’ uniform.
The Panthers, simply stated, are living rent-free in Boston’s head.
At last week’s season opener, the Bruins blew the game with undisciplined runs at Panthers’ players, particularly Matthew Tkachuk.
Monday afternoon, they didn’t have Tkachuk to try and kick around, so what other silly things did they do?
A Charlie McAvoy cross-check against Carter Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a power play and Sam Reinhart’s first goal.
Moments later, David Pastrnak tried to run Reinhart and took an extra two minutes.
A late-game Pastrnak slash against Verhaeghe ended any hopes that the Bruins might have to tie the score with an empty net.
Speaking of Jeremy Swayman, he tried to cut the ankles out from Reinhart in the final seconds.
It went unpunished.
Reinhart owns Swayman, with two goals Monday and five in seven regular-season games against him.
He had six in the playoffs the past two postseasons.
The Panthers, indeed, have buried themselves deep under the skin of the Bruins.
“The biggest thing, playing this team twice so far, is managing our highs and lows of the game,” said Mark Kastelic, who assisted on all three Boston goals.
“I know we want to get retribution early, but there’s a time and place. … It’s a pretty fun rivalry. We definitely don’t like each other too much. It creates for a pretty fun hockey game, and it’s fun to be a part of those challenges.’’
Florida has no problems getting up for Boston, either with Reinhart saying the Bruins are “easy games to get up for.”
On Sunday, Boston coach Jim Mongomery warned that his team could not get sucked into taking dumb penalties against the Panthers.
His message went unheeded.
“They’re winning the mental side of the battle,” Montgomery said of the Panthers.
“Yeah, [Pastarak] got hit, and I love what [Zacha] did. He went in and defended him. That’s great. But the penalties after that, I mean, it’s just not disciplined. You can’t win hockey games that way.”
See you on January 11.
ON DECK: GAME NO. 5
FLORIDA PANTHERS AT COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
- When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Nationwide Arena; Columbus, Ohio
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/Fort Lauderdale); WHDT 9 (West Palm); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/Fort Myers)
- Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
- Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- This Season — At Florida: March 6. At Columbus: Tuesday; March 20.
- Last Season (Panthers Won 3-0) — At Florida: Panthers 5, Jackets 4 OT (Nov.6); Panthers 4, Jackets 0 (Ap. 11). At Columbus: Panthers 5, Blue Jackets 2 (Dec. 10)
- All-time Regular Season Series: Columbus leads 26-20-4
- Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday vs. Vancouver Canucks, 7 p.m. (Local TV)
