NFL
By Jesse Rosales
These two teams couldn’t be more different and couldn’t have come from two different regular-season experiences. The Boston Bruins have led the league basically through the entire course of the regular season. Meanwhile, the Florida Panthers severely underperformed through the first half of the season but played very well down the home stretch.
Let’s review the paths that each team took to get to the postseason.
Boston Bruins Season Review
What else can be said about the Boston Bruins at this point? The B’s ended the regular season with 135 points, a 34-4-3 record at home, and a massively impressive +128 goal differential. They set all kinds of records along the way, both as a team and as individuals. David Pastrnak ended the season with 61 goals, only behind Connor McDavid, and Linus Ullmark came out of nowhere to be the heavy favorite for the Vezina Trophy.
The Bruins are everything you want from a playoff hockey team. They are really physical, great defensively, and come in with arguably the best goaltender tandem in the NHL. I mean the B’s only had 2 stretches of back-to-back losses in the entire regular season. Is this a team of destiny or bound for a major upset?
Florida Panthers Season Review
The Florida Panthers ended the regular season with a 42-32-8 record and had to battle for a playoff spot until the very end. They went 6-3-1 in their final 10 games and were led heavily by Matthew Tkachuck, Alexendar Barkov, and Carter Verhaeghe. Tkachuck, who came over in the offseason as part of a blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames, led the team in points and was only 2 goals behind Verhaeghe for the team lead.
The goaltending situation has been a mixed bag for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky has played ok at times but definitely has underperformed compared to other seasons. He ended the regular season with a .901 save percentage and 3.07 goals-against average. Backup goalies Spencer Knight and Alex Lyon haven’t faired much better. The defensive struggles and goaltender struggles will likely be a huge issue for them come playoffs, especially going against a high-powered offense like Boston.
Stanley Cup Playoff Rd 1 Prediction
The Florida Panthers are capable of putting up big offensive numbers against any team. They definitely carry an element of physicality that rivals anyone, including Boston. That being said, Boston has the better defense, a significantly better goaltender, and at the very least an offensive unit that can go toe to toe with Florida.
The B’s are -400 favorites against the Panthers which obviously presents no value as a better. That being said, I think it is definitely possible that the Bruins sweeps this series or at the very worst win it in 5 games. The Bruins are +143 at -2.5 games meaning they can win the series in 4 or 5 games. Boston to sweep the series is currently at +450 which is intriguing as well as the odds to win in 5 games which is +200. I’m going with the Bruins in 5, but will not be surprised if they sweep.
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