Both Boston teams hit the road for a Game 3 on Friday night

BOSTON -- Boston sports fans will be working the remote on Friday night -- at least the ones without a fancy double TV setup. Both the Bruins and the Celtics are on the road for a Game 3 matchup in their respective playoff series.

There is a little more at stake for the Bruins, who are in Sunrise, Florida for their Game 3 tilt against the Florida Panthers. The B's fell apart in the third period of Wednesday night's Game 2 and lost, 6-3, to fall into a 1-1 tie with the Panthers. So there will be quite a bit of urgency from Boston's end on Friday night.

Add in the uncertainty around captain Patrice Bergeron, who missed the first two games with an upper-body injury, and there is a level of concern around a team that just steamrolled through the regular season. At the moment, we don't even know if Bergeron made the trip with the team, which could leave Boston without its top-line center once again Friday night. (And potentially for Sunday's Game 4.)

But the Bruins aren't fretting too much, though head coach Jim Montgomery said that he would consider some lineup changes after Game 2. The Bruins were their own worst enemy Wednesday night at TD Garden, committing 15 turnovers. Clean that up, and they should have much better results in Game 3, even if the game will be played in hostile territory.

"Right now, I'm excited about where we're going to go right now," Montgomery said Thursday. "Like, we lose [Wednesday] night and everyone's like, 'Oh, the sky is falling. We're not going to heaven, we're going to hell.' And to me, it's like, here we've got an opportunity to get better.

"Playoffs aren't easy. It's not easy. But you become so much better," Montgomery added. "Your resolve, your resiliency -- this is where you get tested. This is where I feel we have the right people in our dressing room to do that."

One of those right people is Brad Marchand, who called out the team's performance after Game 2. He made it clear that the Bruins need to play much, much better Friday night.

"We knew it was gonna be a hard series, definitely not one we expected to walk through," he said. "They play well at home, so we have our work cut out for us. We have to make sure that we bring our best next game. It's one day at a time in playoffs."

And then there are the Celtics, who own a 2-0 lead over the Atlanta Hawks after taking both games in Boston to start their playoff series. They'll be in Atlanta on Friday night, where they won both regular-season matchups with the Hawks.

Outside of taking a 22-11 lead early in Game 2, the Hawks have been pretty punch-less against the Celtics this season. Boston has now won all five matchups, doing so in fairly convincing fashion.

The Hawks will be a desperate bunch with the series shifting to Atlanta on Friday night, and the C's are expecting their best punch yet.

"Every game takes on a life of its own and we just have to be ready for that," said head coach Joe Mazzulla.

Mazzulla hasn't had too many complaints about his team over the last two games, but would like to see them control their turnovers and defensive rebounding a little better.

"We just have to continue to play disciplined basketball," said Mazzulla.

The Celtics have done a great job at limiting Hawks star Trae Young so far. He's averaged only 20 points over the first two games, down from the 26.2 that he averaged during the regular season, and he's really had to work for those points. Boston has held Young to 35 percent shooting overall and just 23 percent from 3-point range.

Boston fans serenaded Young with "overrated" chants Wednesday night at TD Garden. The C's are gearing up for his best game yet on Friday.

"We're sure he's going to be ready to go. He's a great player and has done a lot of great things in this league," said Celtics guard Derrick White. "He's been a challenge this series and will continue to be a challenge. We have to be ready for anything."

The Celtics will look to take a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Hawks on Friday night, while the Bruins will look to regain control of their series with the Panthers. It makes for a very busy night for Boston sports fans, but you won't find anyone complaining about having both teams in the playoffs.

That's just part of the territory at this time of the year. Just make sure you have some fresh batteries in your remote.