Boston Bruins vs. Florida Panthers preview, Digi Mart USA News (Boston, Mass.): The Boston Bruins will host the Florida Panthers today at 1 p.m. at TD Garden in the first meeting between the two clubs this season.
The game will be broadcast on NESN and 98.5 The Sports Hub.
The Bruins will face the Panthers again on Dec. 8, Dec. 15 and April 9, 2027. Brad Marchand will not play, as he remains sidelined with a knee injury and is not expected to return to the lineup until December.
Boston is 9-6-2 for 20 points, fifth in the Atlantic Division. Florida comes into Boston off a 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday, in which Brady Tkachuk scored two goals.
Sandis Vilmanis, who has three goals and four assists this season, left that game in the first period.
The Bruins are riding a three-game win streak after a 6-2 road victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. Before the game, Boston placed James Hagens on injured reserve and recalled Mikey Eyssimont from Providence.
Eyssimont has 13 goals and three hat tricks in the AHL this season and is projected to play on the wing alongside Fraser Minten and Morgan Geekie.
Geekie is on a three-game goal streak after going nine games without scoring. He said after Thursday’s win that every line has been contributing.
Over the Bruins’ last three wins, 12 of the 13 regulation goals were scored by different players. Pavel Zacha is the only player in that span with a two-goal game, which came on Thursday.
Matthew Tkachuk has nine points, all assists, in his last five games for Florida, and Sam Reinhart has four goals in that stretch. For Boston, David Pastrnak has one goal and four assists in his last five games, and Zacha has three goals.
Florida holds the edge on the power play at 23.7% and the penalty kill at 85.3%. Boston has scored more and allowed fewer goals, averaging 3.71 goals for per game, sixth in the NHL, and 2.35 goals against per game, fourth in the NHL.
