FORT LAUDERDALE – The Florida Panthers don’t mind taking a trip to TD Garden.
Leading 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Second Round, they’ll look to continue their road success in the series when they try to eliminate the Boston Bruins in Game 6 on Friday.
Dating back to last season, the Panthers have won five straight playoff games in Boston.
During that streak, they’ve also led 23-13 in goals.
“I think overall just being on the road with this group of guys, you spend more time together and talk about hockey," captain Aleksander Barkov said. "That kind of builds the team chemistry. That’s about it. I think it fits our system of play that we want to play really hard and simple on the road, especially.”
After erasing a 3-1 series deficit to take down the 65-win Bruins during an historic first-round upset last season, the Panthers have flipped the script during this year’s rematch, building up a 3-1 series lead of their own before losing Game 5 in Sunrise on Tuesday.
Heading back to Boston for Game 6, they’re confident they can close things out.
“I think we like that underdog mentality,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said. “We’ve been playing unreal on the road.”
In their last two games at TD Garden, the Panthers certainly made themselves at home.
After racking up four power-play goals during a 6-2 beatdown of the Bruins in Game 3 on Friday, they erased an early 2-0 deficit to just squeeze out a 3-2 win in Game 4 on Sunday.
Spreading out the offense in those two wins, eight different Panthers scored a goal.
“It’s huge,” Barkov said of the team’s depth. “The whole season we’ve had great depth in our team. We’re a really deep, deep team. It helps a lot. No matter who scores the goals, all we want to think about is playing our game and playing our style.”
In addition to depth, it’s been defense getting it done on the road.
Over the course of their wins in Games 3 and 4, the Panthers surrendered just two goals at 5-on-5 while leading 98-61 in shot attempts and 41-25 in scoring chances. Despite facing just 31 shots during those games, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped nine of 10 high-danger shots.
“We want to get the forecheck going, turn pucks over and get to the net,” Forsling said.
Taking a look at the bigger picture, head coach Paul Maurice believes the reason the Panthers have found success on the road is because they don’t change their game.
Their identical 26 wins at home and on the road during the regular season backs up that claim.
“Our numbers at home are pretty darn good, “Maurice said. “The unusual part is that our road numbers are as good as our home numbers. There’s not much difference in our game. … Whether we feel good or we don’t, or we’re at home or we’re not, most nights we compete real darn hard. That gives you a chance to win at home and road.”
With an opportunity to reach the Eastern Conference Final for the second consecutive season, the Panthers will try to keep that compete level up against the Bruins in Game 6.
As for the fans at TD Garden, the Panthers are ready for a not-so-warm reception.
“It’s a great atmosphere there,” Barkov said. “They love their sports.”
