Pressure May Be Off the Bruins (and On the Florida Panthers)

FORT LAUDERDALE — Florida Panthers captain Sasha Barkov was asked Sunday what he thought of his team being the presumptive favorite in its upcoming series against the Boston Bruins.

“I think that is more for you to decide,” he said. “We just play our game. We know how to play, we know how to play hard. That is all we want to do. We have the same mindset as last year. We want to out-compete every team we play. It doesn’t matter who we play. We want to be at our best every game.

“It is not our decision to decide who’s the favorite.”

Well, according to the gambling world, the Panthers are betting favorites in Game 1 tonight (-165 on the MoneyLine locally) and -170 at FanDuel to win the series.

Boston, coming in off an emotionally draining 7-game series win over the Maple Leafs, is not used to playing the underdog role.

The Bruins, however, may have less pressure on themselves in this series after surviving Toronto.

Florida was a heavy underdog going into last year’s first-round series with the Bruins before rallying from a 3-1 series deficit and winning in 7.

The Bruins certainly remember.

The Panthers know they do.

In four games between the two this season, Boston played like a team with something to prove and won all four.

The Panthers forced overtime twice, losing both.

And?

“They definitely got us in the regular season,” said Matthew Tkachuk, the catalyst of Florida’s comeback win last year. “I think if you ask them, they’re probably using that for confidence going into this series.

“We’re like, ‘the regular season doesn’t matter.’ We got them in playoffs. We’ll use our playoff experience and use that as confidence. They did take it to us this year, but they were all close games. So I’m expecting a very good series. They are such an unbelievable game in every aspect of the game. They touch everything … it’s a lot like our team.’’

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Tkachuk did give the Bruins their props.

After beating the Lightning last Monday night, Tkachuk alluded to playing the Bruins in the second round.

“Just to in a playoff series against your biggest rival is so cool and so much fun to begin with,’’ Tkachuk said last week. “To come out on top, be a part of the team that was able to do that for the first time makes it more special. … We’re probably going to be playing our next-biggest rival, so there will not be an emotional letdown.”

He continued that on Sunday.

Even though there was plenty of doubt Boston could finish off the Leafs after losing another 3-1 series lead, it did.

“Without this sounding too bad, I think we all knew it was going to be Boston the way that series was going,” Tkachuk said. “You never know, but we were always expecting Boston.”

Although Boston is coming in off a high of winning a first-round series, so are the Panthers.

And they did so by beating their “top rival” as Tkachuk said.

Florida is confident but not cocky. It knows what it has coming into this series, and knows the Bruins stand in the way of the ultimate goal.

This should be a good one.

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STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

FLORIDA PANTHERS (ATL1) V. BOSTON BRUINS (A2)

BEST-OF-7 SERIES

GAME 1

• When: Monday, 8 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise 
• National TV: ESPN
• Streaming: ESPN+/Hulu
• Radio: 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
• Series Schedule — Game 1: Monday at Florida, 8 (ESPN); Game 2: Wednesday at Florida, 7:30 (ESPN); Game 3: Friday at Boston, 7TNT); Game 4: Sunday, May 12 at Boston TBA (TBS); Game 5*: Tuesday May 14 at Florida, TBA; Game 6*: Friday May 17 at Boston, TBA; Game 7*: Sunday May 19 at Florida TBA. (*) – If Necessary 
• How They Got Here: Florida d. Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1; Boston d. Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3
• Florida’s First Round — Game 1: Panthers 3, Tampa Bay 2; Game 2: Florida 3, Tampa Bay 2 OT; Game 3: Panthers 5, Tampa Bay 3; Game 4: Tampa Bay 6, Panthers 3; Game 5: Panthers 6, Tampa Bay 1.
• Last Season vs. Boston — Regular Season: Tied 2-2; Playoffs: Florida won 4-3 (first-round)
• This Season (Bruins 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).
• All-time Regular Season Series: Boston leads 64-37-7, 6 ties
• All-time Postseason Series: Florida leads 2-0 (1996 1st, 2023 1st)