Panthers Gudas On Series With Bruins: ‘Let’s F-ing Go’

After winning the 2022 Presidents’ Trophy, it took a late season surge to propel the Florida Panthers into a first round Stanley Cup Playoff series with the Boston Bruins. The Panthers enter the series as heavy underdogs but Panthers defenseman Radko Gudas isn’t intimidated by the new Presidents’ Trophy winners.

”This is the moment that we have been fighting for the whole year,” Gudas told Florida Hockey Now after he and his teammates closed their regular season with their first regulation loss since March 27 in a 6-4 defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes. “It does not matter what happened in the first 82. This is a whole new season. Anything can happen.”

Then the veteran rugged 6-foot, 200-pound rearguard took it a bit further with some confident bravado.

“Hey man, we’re in the playoffs. Let’s F-ing go.”

Careful what you wish for there Radko!

The NHL Betting Odds have the Boston Bruins as heavy favorites on every NHL betting app with DraftKings listing the Bruins as -320 for the series and -195 for Game 1.

Look, the Florida Panthers are a versatile and skilled team that did beat the Boston Bruins twice this season, including a last minute comeback and 4-3 on Jan. 28 in Sunrise, Florida. They also have the fifth leading points man in the NHL in Matthew Tkachuk who finished the season with a career-high 109 points with 40 goals and 69 assists in his first season with the Panthers. The Panthers also have another 40-goal scorer in Carter Verhaeghe who lit the lamp 42 times. In net, the Panthers have been the beneficiaries of a ‘Hamburglar’ like run from AHL journeyman Alex Lyon who caught fire at the right time just as starter Sergei Bobrovsky fell ill.

All that is great for the Florida Panthers but they are about to run into wagon in the Boston Bruins, that statistically, is the best regular season team ever. Still Gudas seemed very confident that he and his teammates can become David and take out the Black and Gold Goliath.

“I think we are a confident group who believes we can play with anyone,” Gudkas added. “The way we played Boston all season, it gave us confidence. They are the team they are for a reason, but we are in the playoffs for a reason as well. I am excited for the challenge. If you want to win it all, you have to get through the biggest hurdle and that’s right from the start for us.”