"I think guys have it in the back of their head, but I think the way we've been successful right now is that we're taking it game by game," Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour said of the streak. "We've been playing pretty well right now, and we've just got to keep it going tonight."
Leading the league with 27 goals, the high-flying Panthers have scored at least four goals in all six games they've played so far this season, including a 5-3 win over the Coyotes on Monday.
Joe Thornton, Aaron Ekblad, Jonathan Huberdeau, Anthony Duclair and Frank Vatrano all lit the lamp for the Panthers against Arizona, while Sam Bennett and Montour each produced a pair of assists. In net, rookie Spencer Knight stopped 18 of 21 shots to improve to 2-0-0 on the season.
With multiple points in each of his last two games, Huberdeau leads the team in scoring with eight points (three goals, five assists), while Bennett ranks second with seven (four goals, three assists). Not far behind them, five different players have registered at least five points thus far.
During their streak -- the franchise's longest to ever start a season -- the Cats have outscored their opponents 27-12 for a league-best +15 goal differential, including leading 16-7 at 5-on-5.
"Task at hand -- that's the attitude for all of us," said Ekblad, who leads the team's blueliners with six points (three goals, three assists). "It's just focusing on the details every day -- power play, PK, etc. It's seeing where we're weak in any parts of our game and cleaning that up."
Hitting a major milestone, Ekblad will skate in the 500th game of his NHL career tonight.
"I'm really excited to get that this year," said Ekblad, who was selected by the Panthers with the first-overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. "It's a cool, fun milestone, but at the end of the day it doesn't really mean a whole lot. I'm here to win hockey games."
As for injury updates, rookie center Anton Lundell will miss his second straight game while recovering from an upper-body injury, but "more than likely" will join the Panthers on their upcoming two-game road trip to Detroit and Boston, per head coach Joel Quenneville.
Additionally, defenseman Markus Nutivaara, who has yet to appear in a game this season, was back on the ice for this morning's skate after working his way back from an injury of his own. "He looked comfortable," Quenneville said of Nutivaara, who suited up in 30 games with Florida last season.
"He looked really solid out there. He looked like a different player. It's real positive."
Sitting at 3-1-0 and in fifth place in the Atlantic Division, the Bruins enter tonight's matchup fresh off a 4-3 win over the Sharks on Sunday. In that win, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak each had a goal and an assist for Boston, while Linus Ullmark made 23 saves between the pipes.
Marchand leads the team in goals (4) and points (7). Behind him, Pastrnak has five points (two goals, three assists). Tied for third on the team in scoring, Taylor Hall (two goals, one assist), Charlie Coyle (one goal, two assists) and Patrice Bergeron (three assists) all have three points.
One of the top trios in the league, the line of Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak has controlled 64.37% of shot attempts over the 45:19 they've spent together at 5-on-5 this season, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. In that same time, the Bruins have led 36-15 in shots and 4-2 in goals.
"I think you want to try and make sure that you manage the puck when you have it," Quenneville said of facing that gifted trio. "They're dangerous when they strip you and what they can turn it into on the next play. There's a lot of looks that they have starting right from the faceoff circle."
Ullmark, who is off to a 2-0-0 start with a .935 save percentage, will man the crease for the Bruins in Sunrise, while Sergei Bobrovsky, who is also undefeated with a 4-0-0 record and .942 save percentage, is expected to get the nod in net for the Panthers after backing up on Monday.
Not playing each other at all last season, Florida went 1-1-1 against Boston in 2019-20.
"When you're playing these top teams, you obviously want to match and see how you play against them," Montour said. "I've said it before, I think any team in this league can beat each other on any given night depending on how you're playing. We take each game as it comes."
