2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs preview: Boston Bruins vs Florida Panthers

The first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs is set to begin Monday, April 17. Today we preview the Boston Bruins vs Florida Panthers series.

(1A) Boston Bruins vs (WC2) Florida Panthers 

Boston: 65-12-5, 135 points (Presidents’ Trophy)

Florida: 42-32-8, 92 points (WC 2)

Head-to-Head: BOS 2-1-1; FLA 2-2-0

The battle of the last two Presidents’ Trophy winners will begin Monday night at the TD Garden in Boston, with the Florida Panthers taking on the best regular season team in NHL history, the Boston Bruins.

Florida’s last minute 6-1-1 regular season run was just enough to get them into the playoffs as the final wild card team in the East. Last season’s top-seed struggled to find their game as they finished the 2022-2023 campaign with 30 points less than they did the previous season. 

The Bruins on the other hand breezed through the league this year, winning 65 games in the season, which is the most in NHL history. They also set the league record for points with 135. 

Despite the 43 point difference between the teams, history has shown us that the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a 16 team race – with every series up for grabs. 

Goaltending

A hot goalie can steal you a series in the same way a bad goalie can lose you one. 

BOSTON: Going into the series, it is clear that Boston has the advantage over Florida. Linus Ullmark made a strong case this season as one of the Vezina favorites. The Bruins starting goalie led the league in multiple categories including save percentage with .938, goals-against average  with a 1.89 and tied for wins with 40 in his 49 games (48 starts). 

His backup Jeremy Swayman also had a nice season, finishing with a 24-6-4 record,  a .920 save percentage and a 2.27 GAA. 

The duo combined to win the William M. Jennings Trophy, which is awarded to the goaltending duo who conceded the least amount of goals against in the season. The one area this duo lacks in his playoff experience, with the two only having a total of seven postseason starts under their belt. Other than that, Boston really shouldn’t have any issue in net going into this series.

FLORIDA: The Panthers have a much more interesting goaltending situation compared to their opponent, which has been the story of Florida’s playoffs for the last three seasons. 

For the majority of the season, two-time Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky has held the Panthers’ net to himself. Bobrovksy had a record of 24-20-3 with a 3.07 GAA and .901 save percentage in 50 games (49 starts) in 2022-2023. 

Bobrovsky has a plethora of playoff experience with his 51 games played (46 starts). The 34-year-old started all 10 playoff games last season for the Panthers. 

However, the man who Florida may turn to, at least at the start of the playoffs, could very well be the wild card backup, Alex Lyon.

Just a few weeks before the postseason, Florida was on the outside looking in for a playoff spot and Bobrovsky was sidelined with an illness. Alex Lyon had to step in and he clawed Florida into the playoffs with a 6-1-1 record in their last eight games, while putting together a six-game win streak. Lyon,30, has no NHL playoff experience, however he did win a Calder Cup last year with the Chicago Wolves in the AHL.

Bobrovsky hasn’t played in a game since March 27 in Ottawa, while Lyon has played in the last eight games. It should be Lyon to start the series, but don’t be surprised if head coach Paul Maurice turns back to his $10M goalie. 

Scoring

This area of the game is a lot more even than it is in the crease. Both teams were top 10 offenses this season, with the two sides scoring at over a 3.5 goals per-game rate.

BOSTON: Boston’s offense is carried by superstar David Pastrnak, who finished second in the league in goals with 61. The Bruins winger had the third most points this season with 113. He will be the most dangerous player on the ice for Boston.

After Pastrnak’s astounding numbers, the Bruins don’t have another “stand out”, what they have is a balanced team offense. Eight of their players scored 50 or more points this season, five of whom had 20+ goals (including Pastrnak). 

FLORIDA: Florida’s offense is a little more top heavy compared to the Bruins. The Panthers offense is spearheaded by two 40 goal scorers in Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe. Before this year, Florida only had one player ever hit 40 goals in a season. That was Pavel Bure who got 50+ twice in South Florida. Tkachuk finished sixth in the NHL in points with 109, while Verhaeghe’s 42 goals was top 10 in the league. 

A large portion of Florida’s offense this season came from the blueline, with Panthers defensemen scoring 53 times – second most in the league.

Both teams relied on offensive contribution from their back end this season. Boston’s d-men had 205 points, while Florida’s had 204 — this was the second and third most points by defensemen in the NHL.

Two-way game

BERGERON: This series will be an entertaining one on the other side of the puck because of the two teams’ captains. Boston’s Patrice Bergeron will go down as one of the best two-way players of all-time. Bergeron has won the Selke Trophy five times, most recently last year and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he takes home his sixth trophy as the league’s best defensive forward. 

BARKOV: Florida’s Aleksander Barkov is the perfect counterpart for Bergeron in this series. The 27-year-old Panther captain is a one-time Selke winner himself and just finished another impressive campaign with 78 points in 68 games. Barkov will log a lot of minutes for the Panthers as they try to shut down the explosive Bruins offense. 

The blueline for these teams both boast entertaining players. Charlie McAvoy continues to be a top defenseman in the league on both sides of the puck for Boston while Florida’s Brandon Montour had a Panthers record setting season with 73 points.

With these two juggernaut offenses getting contributions from everywhere on the ice – yes even Linus Ullmark scored a goalie goal this season, it should be a fun back and forth series. 

Boston was the best team in the NHL this season and you can see why. They had spectacular goaltending, offensive help up and down the lineup, and they were led by a well-established veteran presence. Florida struggled to find their way to the playoffs, but now that they are at the dance, they have some top players who can steal them a series.