Bruins-Panthers Game 1 Gets More Interesting

The Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers face off on Monday night in Game 1 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden in Boston. The Bruins are the top seed in the NHL playoffs after a record-breaking 65-12-5 mark in the regular season. The Panthers are the second wild card in the East with a 42-32-8 record. Each team won two games in their four regular season matchups and haven’t faced each other since January 28.

The Bruins have had the untimely flu rip through the team tonight, with several players feeling under the weather, including captain Patrice Bergeron, who is a game-time decision. Vezina Trophy favorite Linus Ullmark is also a game-time decision in the net for Boston. Backup Jeremy Swayman has also had a touch of the flu but did participate in this morning’s optional skate. Forward Nick Foligno and defenseman Derek Forbort are expected to be back in the lineup for the Bruins after long absences.

The Panthers have been without forward Sam Bennett, but the 16-goal scorer did travel with the team to Boston. Goaltender Alex Lyon will be in goal for the Panthers. Lyon defeated Boston with 38 saves in January.

Here are the projected lineups for the Bruins versus the Panthers in Game 1. This is subject to change.

BOSTON BRUINS

Forwards

Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Jake DeBrusk

Pavel Zacha–David Krejci–David Pastrnak

Taylor Hall–Charlie Coyle–Tyler Bertuzzi

Nick Foligno–Tomas Nosek–Garnet Hathaway

Defense

Dmitry Orlov–Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm–Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort–Connor Clifton

Goalies

Linus Ullma r k (projected starter)

Jeremy Swayman

Brandon Bussi

FLORIDA PANTHERS

Forwards

Carter Verhaeghe–Aleksander Barkov–Sam Reinhart

Eetu Luostarinen–Anton Lundell–Matthew Tkachuk

Ryan Lomberg–Eric Staal–Anthony Duclair

Nick Cousins–Colin White–Givani Smith

Defense

Gustav Forsling–Aaron Ekblad

Marc Staal–Brandon Montour

Josh Mahura–Radko Gudas

Goalies

Alex Lyon (confirmed starter)

Sergei Bobrovsky

These are two of the highest-scoring teams in the NHL. The difference could be the Bruins’ stingy defense (177 goals against) and Boston’s number-one penalty kill in the NHL.

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