PREVIEW: Bruins host Florida Panthers for first of four regular-season matchups

Just the Facts

The Time: 7pm EST

The Place: TD Garden, Boston, MA

Place to Watch: SN, NESN, FS-F

Opposing SBNation Blog: Litter Box Cats

Know Your Enemy

• Barkov and Huberdeau each have more than 20 points; also, Brett Connolly is on their second line? Must not be that deep of a team?
• The Panthers may have lost Roberto Luongo to retirement, but gaining Sergei Bobrovsky in free agency keeps this Floridian team a relevant opponent. A barn-burner against the Rangers might cause defensive alarm, if Boston hadn’t done the same at the end of October. Not sure it’s a matchup that will produce great results for Boston.

Game Notes

• Watching the Bruins coast through another period of a game on Sunday against the Flyers was not fun; they had only five registered shots on goal through the first. They accumulated many more opportunities in the second, and especially the second half of the game in general - in fact, shots were 29-28 to end the game. That only leveled out by Boston vastly outshooting their opponent in the third period, 17-7... and scoring twice in the process.
• There has been much concern for the health of Torey Krug, and it looks like he will miss at least Tuesday’s game. Matt Grzelcyk probably should slide up the lineup, at the very least for the power play. Carlo and Clifton played the least of all defensemen against Philly, and though the B’s were more likely to get offense moving through Krug and Grzelcyk, there’s a significant drop-off from Krug’s playmaking ability.

Then again, the recall of Urho Vaakanainen complicates things. Yes, there is a spot for the young defenseman on emergency recall, but is he actually going to see the ice? Will it be over enough games to get the jitters out and see a good glimpse of Urho, the player?

• Shall we see a goalie duel in Tuukka Rask v. Sergei Bobrovsky.... or will we see a shooting gallery with two potent top-flight forward groups?

WE SHALL SEE. Personally, I’d rather see the shooting gallery in November, and save the defensive structure for January. There’s still time to sharpen the saw.