Sitting at 9-8-2 in the standings, the Panthers enter tonight's matchup looking to bounce back from a 5-3 loss at Columbus on Sunday. Tied 2-2 after two periods, the Panthers surrendered three goals in the third period against the Blue Jackets en route to their third straight defeat.
Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad and Colin White all scored against Columbus, while Gustav Forsling dished out a pair of primary assists and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 of 23 shots.
Likely deserving of a better result, Florida led 51-16 in scoring chances.
"We've just got to bear down a little bit," Verhaeghe said. "Sometimes they go, sometimes they don't. When we get an opportunity [to score], we've got to dial it in and bear down. Eventually they're going to go in. We've been saying it all year, but they're going to go in."
Finding the back of the net in each of the last three games, Tkachuk leads the Panthers with 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists). Tied for second, Brandon Montour and Verhaeghe each have tallied 18 points, while Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett are tied for fourth with 15 points apiece.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, Florida ranks first in the NHL with 76.35 expected goals.
Expected to man the crease against the Bruins, Spencer Knight has posted a 5-3-1 record with a .918 save percentage this season. In his lone career start against Boston, Knight, who attended Boston College, stopped 31 of 33 shots in a 3-2 shootout loss on Oct. 30, 2021.
Over his last four appearances, Knight has allowed one-or-fewer goals twice.
"He has all the tools," Verhaeghe said. "He's such a great goaltender back there."
On a seven-game winning streak following a 5-3 win at Tampa Bay on Monday, the Bruins sit atop the NHL standings with a 17-2-0 record. Finding success at both ends of the ice, they rank first in the NHL in goals per game (4.16) and fewest goals allowed per game (2.11).
David Pastrnak leads Boston in goals (12), assists (17) and points (29). Second in scoring with 18 points (nine goals, nine assists), Patrice Bergeron, a five-time winner of the Selke Trophy, recorded the 1,000th point of his career in the win over the Lightning.
Starting 14 games, Linus Ullmark has been outstanding between the pipes for the Bruins and currently leads the NHL in wins (13), goals-against average (1.96) and save percentage (.935).
"They have the ability to generate," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "They score more goals than anybody else in the NHL. Tonight's not about an aspect of your game, that your offense has to get going or one piece has to be good. … They've got all the bases covered, so we need to as well."
In their first meeting of the season, the Panthers put up a heck of a fight in a 5-3 loss at Boston on Oct. 17 despite being down to four defensemen for the majority of the game. Although they didn't pick up any points in that loss, the Panthers gained confidence through their impressive resolve.
"It was really well played early on," Maurice said of the game. "For us, [Brandon] Montour was out and then we lost Ekblad. We weren't really able to hold water toward the end of that game, but the game was well played. It was very, very fast. It was kind of like those first games against good teams in the season when both teams are trying to push the pace. I'd expect that tonight."
