Entering the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Panthers will officially kick off their opening-round series against the top-seeded Bruins at TD Garden on Monday.
The Bruins closed out the regular season on an eight-game winning streak en route to setting NHL records for wins (65) and points (135), while the Panthers, who have been essentially playing do-or-die hockey for a while now, finished on a 6-1-1 run to charge into the playoffs.
Boston won the Presidents' Trophy as the top team in the NHL this season, but it was only a year ago that Florida captured the same hardware in 2021-22. Making history, this series will mark the first time the last two Presidents' Trophy winners faced off in Round 1 of the playoffs.
Clearly, this is not your average No. 8 vs. No. 1 matchup.
"It literally has been playoff games the last few months, especially down the stretch," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "We had to have a certain record to get in, and we were able to do that. I consider ourselves playing pretty well right now."
Posting the best numbers ever by a player in their first season with the Panthers, Tkachuk led the team in scoring with a career-high 109 points (40 goals, 69 assists). Despite missing time due to injuries, captain Aleksander Barkov finished second in scoring with 78 points (23 goals, 55 assists).
On the blue line, Brandon Montour broke out and set new single-season franchise records for assists (57) and points (73) by a Panthers defenseman. Nearly doubling his previous career-high total, Carter Verhaeghe led the team and ranked tied for ninth in the NHL with 42 goals.
"It's going to be a great challenge for our team," said Tkachuk, who tallied one goal and four assists against the Bruins this season. "We've been playing some good hockey. We're up for the challenge. … When you're in [the playoffs] you believe you have a chance, and we certainly do."
The primary player to keep an eye on when the Bruins are in the offensive zone, David Pastrnak led Boston in goals (61), assists (52) and points (113). With the offense spread out quite a bit under him, seven other players finished with at least 50 points, including 67 for Brad Marchand.
But at this point, it's unclear if the Bruins will have their usual lineup against Florida.
Per the reports from Boston's morning skate, the Bruins currently have a nasty bug going through their locker room that has several players feeling ill, including five-time Selke Trophy winner Patrice Bergeron, who was already absent from the team's practices on both Saturday and Sunday.
"We have not only Bergeron, but a couple of guys that have been under the weather," Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told NHL.com. "I don't have a definitely lineup right now for tonight."
While the Bruins have yet to announce a starting goaltender, the Panthers will roll with Alex Lyon in Game 1. Starting the final eight games of the regular season after Sergei Bobrovsky was sidelined by an illness, the "Lyon King" went 6-1-1 with a stellar .942 save percentage.
In his lone start against Boston this season, Lyon, who began the campaign as Florida's No. 3 goaltender, stopped 38 of 41 shots to lead the Panthers to a 4-3 win in overtime on Jan. 28.
"He's really good," Maurice said when asked about Lyon, who won the Calder Cup in the AHL last season. "He's played really well for us. That's it. Not overthinking a whole lot. … I've got two good goalies. I'm comfortable with either of them, but Lyon deserves the start."
That aforementioned win for Lyon was one of two victories the Panthers had against the Bruins this season. Overall, Florida was one of just two teams to top Boston twice in 2022-23, with the other being the Senators.
During their four-game season series, the Panthers were outscored 17-15. At 5-on-5, Boston's advantages were also slim. Per NaturalStatTrick.com, they led 195-193 in shot attempts, 107-105 in shots on goal and 109-102 in scoring chances against the Florida.
"Playoffs is a completely different animal," Maurice said. "These two teams haven't seen each other in the last two months. They've made additions and I think we're playing a much better brand of hockey now. But I've also seen a lot from this team, so there's not as many question marks in my mind as to what they're going to look like."
