BOSTON -- The last vision the Boston Bruins have of the Florida Panthers was of them celebrating their win in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round on TD Garden ice, knocking the Bruins out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was a run for the Panthers that wouldn't end until the Stanley Cup Final, where they finally lost in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Though nothing that happens Monday will erase that sight, the Bruins will certainly have a little extra when they take the ice at TD Garden (7 p.m. ET; BSFL, NESN, TVAS2) to face the team that ended their 2022-23 season in stunning fashion.
"It's not one of 82, no," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. "They ended our season. They went all the way to the finals. Our summers were miserable until the finals were over. That's because they beat us. So, yeah, this means more."
The Bruins believed they had a team capable of winning the Stanley Cup last season. There was no reason to believe otherwise, not after a regular season that set an NHL record for wins (65) and points (135). Instead, they were out after the first round, with a long summer to ponder what had gone wrong.
"There's definitely an extra motivation," forward Trent Frederic said. "I think we're going to come out with a little more jump than maybe a typical Monday night game. I'm excited about it. I think everyone that was here last year and even the guys that just joined get it, so we're excited."
The Panthers started this season 0-2-2, not an unexpected outcome given that they are without top defensemen Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad, each of whom were injured in the playoffs. Center Sam Bennett also has not played this season because of a lower-body injury sustained in a preseason game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 5, though coach Paul Maurice said it's possible he could return for this game.
Since those two losses, the Panthers (4-3-0) have won four of five including two in a row, against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday and the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
"They're playing real good," Montgomery said. "They're playing similar to how they had success in the second half and in the playoff run. They're a real hard forechecking team. They're a team that their defensemen press and keep pucks alive in the offensive zone really well, which is even better than their forecheck in my estimation. They're breaking pucks out well and they're defending the rush better than they did last year.
"They're a team that, despite the fact that they're missing two of their top D and their second-line center in Bennett, they're doing really good things. They probably should have a better record than they have."
The Bruins (7-0-1) have started hot, their seven wins are one behind the Golden Knights (8-0-1) for most in the NHL. Their sole blemish is a 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
They're getting a chance to prove themselves during a four-game stretch against teams from the stacked Atlantic Division. They started with a convincing 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday and after playing Florida have games at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday and at the Red Wings on Saturday.
"We're wanting to send a statement in division games," Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman said after the win against Detroit. "We want to make sure we're staying dominant. That's a big momentum piece moving forward.
"We've got a few coming up. Every team in this league is a serious opponent, but those division points are huge for us. We know that these points matter early on in the season and are big momentum pieces for us to build off and grow from."
