"It feels like it starts now," head coach Paul Maurice said. "You do hours of video with the guys, you do all of that pre-prep. Now, we get to just hockey and tight meetings. Everybody's excited to get on that plane."
On paper, the Panthers couldn't have received a tougher matchup.
Setting NHL records for wins (65) and points (135), the Bruins enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the heels of a simply historic regular season in which they ran away with the Presidents' Trophy.
At the other end of the ice, the Panthers, who claimed the Presidents' Trophy in 2021-22, had to finish out their season on a 6-1-1 run to claim the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
That being said, the Panthers aren't your average eighth seed.
Finishing the regular season just six points behind the cross-state rival Lightning for the third spot in the Atlantic Division, the Panthers likely would've ended up a bit higher in the standings if not for having to overcome a slew of injuries to key players throughout the campaign.
Sure, every team deals with adversity, but it's safe to say that the Panthers endured more than most over the past several months. Looking at some notable games missed, Aleksander Barkov missed 13, Aaron Ekblad missed 11, Radko Gudas missed 10 and Anton Lundell missed nine.
After undergoing offseason surgery to repair an Achilles injury, Anthony Duclair, who scored a career-high 31 goals last season, missed a whopping 62 games. Still out of the lineup, Sam Bennett sat out the last 12 games leading into the postseason due to an undisclosed injury.
But in overcoming those hurdles, the Panthers have only become stronger.
"We're going in with some scars, which is good," Maurice said. "But they've healed, right? We survived them. We had some tough stretches this year where there was a lot of mental toughness that was needed. That's what this series is going to be all about."
The Panthers also have other reasons to be confident outside of their internal fortitude.
While it's often been said that you should throw out regular-season results when the playoffs begin, there's still something noteworthy about the fact the Panthers were one of just two teams in the NHL to beat the Bruins twice in 2022-23, with the other being the Senators.
Splitting their season series, the Panthers were outscored only 17-15 in four games against the Bruins. At 5-on-5, Boston's advantages were also razor thin. Per NaturalStatTrick.com, the Bruins led 195-193 in shot attempts, 107-105 in shots on goal and 109-102 in scoring chances over the course of those aformentioned four games.
Seven different Panthers posted at least three points against the Bruins, while 16 recorded at least one point and 11 scored at least one goal. Barkov, despite playing in just three of the four games in the season series, led Florida with six points, while two others had five points.
"It's going to be a lot of fun going up there and competing against those guys," forward Carter Verhaeghe said. "I believe in us. We have a great group and the right group to do it here."
