Panthers vs. Bruins in playoffs again? Yes, thank you: CBS News Miami's Steve Goldstein
SUNRISE — For the second consecutive year and the third time in franchise history, the Florida Panthers will play the Boston Bruins in the playoffs.
While the rested Panthers have had a week off after blowing by the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games, the Bruins had to go to overtime in game seven to beat Toronto in the first round. This second-round series begins Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena and it will be a hotly contested battle with some bad blood that's developed over the last few years.
History
This is the first time the Panthers have played Boston outside of the first round. The franchise won its' first ever series by beating the Bruins in 1996, and then stunned the best regular season team in NHL history last year by erasing a 3-1 series deficit and winning game 7 in overtime in Boston. The Bruins won the four games the teams played this season, two in overtime.
Net Gains
The goaltending matchup is the one to watch. Sergei Bobrovsky had quite a few well documented highlight reel saves in the opening round win against Tampa Bay and hns had a fantastic season. Boston's Jeremy Swayman took over in the Toronto series as the starter and was terrific. Swayman only played game 7 in last year's series against the Panthers. It's likely we will see low scoring games most of the time with the goaltenders on top of their game.
Men in the Middle
Even without Sam Bennett to start the series the Panthers should have the advantage at center (Bennett is day to day and should return soon). Aleksander Barkov was all-world against Tampa and Anton Lundell stepped up and played excellent all-around hockey. Kevin Stenlund played a bigger role and proved he can play the playoff style needed. Boston lost long time stars Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to retirement after last year's series. But give the Bruins credit as players like Charlie Coyle have played well enough. But with that said, the Panthers are the better team, by a sizable amount, at the all-important position, up the middle.
Battle Tested
Over the last three years the Panthers have won five playoff series, more than any other NHL team. They won the President's Trophy as the best regular season team in the league and have reached the Stanley Cup final. They've played numerous low scoring, hard-nosed playoff type of games, with success. That's who this team is. So, the Panthers don't need to change their game or raise their level of play when they get to the postseason because they play that way all the time. They are very comfortable in tight games and all things being equal it is going to be difficult for an opponent to beat them four out of seven times.
Bruins Survive
Boston led Toronto three games to one but nearly had an identical scenario of last year's stunning seven game playoff series loss to the Panthers. Toronto won games 5 and 6 but Boston was able to pull out game seven in overtime. No team in NHL, NBA or MLB history had ever lost back-to-back playoff series in consecutive years when leading 3-1 and thanks to Saturday's win the Bruins avoided making history. Led by goalie Jeremy Swayman the Bruins didn't panic when the pressure was at its highest and found a way to win the series.
