The Boston Bruins will play their first home game since March 21 against the Florida Panthers in a Saturday afternoon showdown between the Atlantic Division’s top two teams.
The Bruins (45-17-15, 105 points) ended the trip with three straight wins, including a 4-1 triumph over a fellow Eastern Conference playoff contender, the Carolina Hurricanes, on Thursday.
“First place is on the line,” Coach Jim Montgomery stated. “Aside from that, we just want to keep doing what we’ve been doing, particularly in the previous two games. We believe that our play is in good shape.”
Recent results have increased the Bruins’ division lead over Florida (48-24-5, 101 points) to four points heading into the critical matchup.
Captain Brad Marchand expects that the team’s performance away from home will boost their confidence.
“All these teams that we’re playing right now are tough and they’re playoff ready, playoff bound,” he remarked. “It’s a fantastic challenge every night. This is the way you want to play.
“You want to play these tough games going down the stretch and getting prepared.”
Boston opened Thursday’s game with a powerful three-goal first period, with Marchand becoming the fifth Bruins player to surpass 400 goals.
“It speaks about longevity, it speaks about your ability to make a tremendous amount of plays over the course of your career,” he remarked.
“There’s a guy that has been doubted his whole life and all he keeps doing is putting out any doubts in anyone’s mind about how great an athlete he is and (how) great a hockey player and Bruin he is.”
David Pastrnak and Danton Heinen both had a goal and an assist, while Pavel Zacha set up two goals in Carolina.
Florida returned to playoff form Thursday with a 6-0 shutout of the Ottawa Senators. The Panthers’ win stopped an eight-game losing streak (2-7-1).
“Our group has been pretty good at staying even-keeled through this tough stretch,” Florida forward Sam Bennett said. “Any time you can have a game, a full 60-minute game like that, it’s going to be good for your confidence.”
Matthew Tkachuk led the Panthers with a goal and two assists versus Ottawa. He was one of six different goal scorers on a night when depth was essential as illness spread across the dressing room.
“I liked that they were able to get their energy levels up for the game,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said Thursday. “We have 10 games in 17 days, this is the ninth, and some of our players are unwell. Steve Lorentz played despite periodic vomiting. So, we’ve had a lot of that run through our team, and we’ve come together after our previous two losses, which was fantastic.”
Sergei Bobrovsky, the last line of defense, made 30 saves to earn his sixth shutout of the season.
Saturday is Florida’s final road game of the regular season, with a chance to prevent a four-game season sweep.
Of course, a victory would be critical to any chances of winning the division crown.
“It’s all coming down to the wire,” forward Anton Lundell stated. “We are going to play against teams we are most likely going to play in the playoffs, so getting the confidence back is huge.”
