Game 20: Boston Bruins @ Florida Panthers Lines, Preview

Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Boston Bruins Game Day Preview:

Boston Bruins (17-2-0, 34 pts) @ Florida Panthers (9-8-2, 20 pts)

TIME: 7 P.M. ET,

TV: NESN, BSFL

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Boston Bruins Notes

-The Bruins beat the Panthers 5-3 at TD Garden on October 17. They come into this rematch with their Atlantic Division rival riding a seven-game win streak and having won 13 of their last 14 games.

-Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron will be looking for point No. 1,001 after reaching the 1,000 point plateau in the 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. Bergeron has a goal and two assists in his last two games and is second on the team in points with 18 on nine goals and nine assists.

–Bergeron’s recent linemate, David Pastrnak is on a heater with four goals and six assists in his last seven games. Pastrnak leads the Bruins in goals (12), assists (17) and points with 29.

-Brad Marchand has also caught fire since being reunited with Pastrnak on ‘The Perfection Line’. Marchand has a goal and three assists in his last two games.

-Jeremy Swayman (3-1-0, 2.82 GAA, .890 save percentage), will start for the Bruins.

-Craig Smith will draw in for the injured Trent Frederic and play with Charlie Coyle and Taylor Hall.

-Defenseman Jakub Zboril is in on the Bruins’ blue line and Anton Stralman is out.

-Defenseman Derek Forbort remains week to week after surgery on a broken middle finger earlier this month, but he has resumed skating with his teammates on this trip.

“There’s no updated timeline on him,” Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters on Tuesday after practice. “He’s just starting to get a lot of skates in him because when the upper-body injury heals to where we like it, he’ll be in skating condition.”

Florida Panthers Notes

-The Panthers have underachieved so far this season. After winning the President’s Trophy and then their first playoff round since losing to the Colorado Avalanche in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers got bounced in six games by the Lightning in the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They swung for the fences and altered their lineup dramatically by acquiring Matthew Tkachuk from the Calgary Flames in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar. Now at the traditional American Thanksgiving cutoff date that determines who are the playoff contenders and who the pretenders are, the Panthers are on the outside looking in, trailing the Red Wings by two points for the second wild card slot.

They’ve been getting better as of late but as forward Sam Reinhart told Florida Hockey Now recently, there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

”There are some parts of our game that are going to require a little bit more,” Reinhart said. ”Our offensive zone time has been pretty good but it’s been a little too much at the perimeter.. We have to figure out how to get into the interior a little more and create some high-danger chances.”

-Former Boston College star goalie Spencer Knight will get the nod between the pipes for the Panthers. Knight has easily been the better goalie for thee Panthers this season going 5-3-1 with a 2.43 GAA and a .918 save percentage. Meanwhile the high-ticket priced Sergei Bobrovsky has gone 4-5-1 with a 3.62 GAA and .888 save percentage.

Boston Bruins Lineup:

Forwards

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Jake DeBrusk

Pavel Zacha-David Krejci-David Pastrnak

Taylor Hall-Charlie Coyle-Craig Smith

Nick Foligno-Tomas Nosek-A.J. Greer

Defense:

Matt Grzelcyk-Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo

Jakub Zboril-Connor Clifton

Goalies:

Jeremy Swayman

Linus Ullmark

Florida Panthers Lineup:

Forwards

Carter Verhaeghe-Sasha Barkov-Colin White

Eetu Luostarinen-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk

Nick Cousins-Anton Lundell-Sam Reinhart

Ryan Lomberg-Eric Staal-Patric Hornqvist

Defense

Gus Forsling-Aaron Ekblad

Brandon Montour-Marc Staal

Josh Mahura-Radko Gudas

Goalies

Spencer Knight

Sergei Bobrovsky