Florida Panthers
Opening Night Pregame: Bruins at Panthers Lines, Betting Odds, Etc.
FORT LAUDERDALE — This is not your ordinary Opening Night for the Florida Panthers, no siree. Not with the Boston Bruins in town.
Not with that banner being raised to the rafters.
Tonight should be, as the kids sometimes say, lit.
The Bruins, for good reason, do not like the Panthers.
And, the Panthers do not like the Bruins.
It may not be the most natural of hockey rivalries — the Bruins just celebrated their 100th anniversary as the pipsqueak Panthers blew out 30 candles — but it, right now, the NHL’s most delicious one.
“To play Boston, whether it’s here or there, you see that ‘Spoke-B’ … you know the players there. It’s a privilege,” Florida GM Bill Zito said. “It’s really neat. It is a wonderful part of our game, the competitive nature of multiple organizations. This is fun. This is what it is about. We’re in the entertainment business. This is hard, but it is wonderful.’’
Added coach Paul Maurice: “We have played each other 21 times in the past two years and I would pay money to watch every one of those games. It is the rarity, for me, that you walk off the bench after a loss and you say ‘man, I loved that game.’ And that happened a lot in games against the Bruins. Even in the playoffs. You play so hard, so right, there’s respect. It’s fun hockey.”
The Bruins are in on this too. The Panthers, after all, ended their season in the playoffs the past two years.
That’ll put a bee in your bonnet as the kids used to say.
The Bruins flew south on Sunday to get enjoy some of our tropical weather which has kept them pretty much cooped up on the beach.
They spent the past two days skating at the new IcePlex and are ready to wipe the celebratory smiles off the Panthers’ faces once they get done with that banner ceremony.
Coach Jim Montgomery would not say whether he and his team would watch it — puck drop for the 7 p.m. game is now 7:25 for the extended pregame festivities — but captain Brad Marchand said playing the Panthers is plenty of motivation.
“The exciting part of today is that it is Game 1; the journey begins,” Montgomery said. “You have nerves, you’re excited — and we’re playing Florida. What more could you ask for?’’
Said Marchand: “I wouldn’t say this is more special, but it definitely is more intense. It is a great opportunity to have two of the best teams in the league meet. We’re excited to get out there, we’re also going to be flying high with the celebration they have tonight. It’s going to be a great game.’’
NEWS y NOTES
Florida will have Sergei Bobrovsky in net tonight; Montgomery would not say who starts for the Bruins after teasing that Jeremy Swayman was “an option” despite missing all of training camp in a contract dispute.
Joonas Korpisalo, whom Montgomery declared the Opening Night starter last week before Swayman signed his eight-year deal, was the first off the ice.
Expect him tonight.
— A couple of chaps will make their debut with the Panthers tonight including the Boqvist Bros. and A.J. Greer.
— Some pregame reading:
— Spencer Knight gets sent down for salary cap reasons;
— The Panthers got their rings. Man, are they something special.
— Tonight will be an opener the likes of which the Panthers have never seen.
— Florida found not one but two new QBs for their power play.
GAME 1 ON DECK
BOSTON BRUINS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- National TV: ESPN
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/Fort Lauderdale); WHDT 9 (West Palm); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/Fort Myers)
- Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; 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
- Local Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-160); Puck line (-1.5, +150); Over/Under 6 (+100/-120)
- Last Regular Season (Bruins Won 4-0) — At Boston: Bruins 3, Panthers 2 OT (Oct.30); Bruins 3, Panthers 2 OT (Ap. 6). At Florida: Bruins 3, Panthers 1 (Nov. 22); Bruins 4, Panthers 3 (March 26).
- 2024 EC Semifinal (Panthers Won 4-2) — Game 1: Boston 5, @Florida 1; Game 2: @Florida 6, Boston 1; Game 3: Florida 6, @Boston 2; Game 4: Florida 3, @Boston 2; Game 5: Boston 2, @Florida 1; Game 6: Florida 2, @Boston 1.
- All-time Regular Season Series: Boston leads 64-37-7, 6 ties
- All-time Postseason Series: Florida leads 3-0 (1996 1st, 2023 1st, 2024 2nd)
- Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday at Ottawa, 7 p.m. (Local TV)
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (0-0-0) LINES
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart
17 Evan Rodrigues// 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 25 Mackie Samoskevich
12 Jonah Gadjovich // 70 Jesper Boqvist // 10 A.J. Greer
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 7 Dmitry Kulikov
34 Adam Boqvist // 26 Uvis Balinskis
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
60 Chris Driedger
Scratched: MacKenzie Entwistle, Nate Schmidt
Injured: Tomas Nosek (UBI), Justin Sourdif (UBI)
PROJECTED BOSTON BRUINS (0-0-0) LINES
18 Pavel Zacha // 28 Elias Lindholm // 88 David Pastrnak
63 Brad Marchand // 13 Charlie Coyle // 39 Morgan Geekie
49 Max Jones // 11 Trent Frederic // 55 Justin Brazeau
19 Johnny Beecher // 47 Mark Kastelic // 45 Cole Koepke
27 Hampus Lindholm // 73 Charlie McAvoy
6 Mason Lohrei // 25 Brandon Carlo
91 Nikita Zadorov // 52 Andrew Peeke
70 Joonas Korpisalo
1 Jeremy Swayman
Scratched: Riley Tufte, Parker Wotherspoon
Injured: Matthew Poitras (upper body), Ian Mitchell (undisclosed), Alec Regula (knee)
Boston Bruins Lines Courtesy NHL.com
