Bruins vs. Panthers 12/14/19 PREVIEW

Just the Facts:

The Time: 7pm EST

The Place: BB&T Center, Sunrise, Florida

Place to Watch: NESN

Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Opposing SBNation Blog: Litter Box Cats

Know Your Enemy:

• Jonathan Huberdeau leads the Panthers in points with 37 in 31 games.
• Guess who leads the Panthers in scoring. Go on. You will not get it. It’s not Dadonov, It’s not Hoffman or Barkov or even Huberdeau. It’s Brett Connolly, with 14 in 31 games.
• It’s a who’s who of former depth guys for Boston, as Noel Acciari and Frank Vatrano come back to town. #LocalBoyz
• This Chris Dreidger fellow has been in 2 games and is absolutely blowing Bobrosvky’s SV% out of the water. He has a .942% as opposed to Bob’s .889%. Naturally, I expect him to not play.

Game Preview:

While any team worth it’s salt might look a the Panthers on a 2-game losing streak and say “hey, here’s an easy win”, the Boston Bruins are more than likely looking at them as though they were a playoff team. Primarily because of major scoring issues (in that only one line and sporadic defenders) that came to a head over the past few games, and a losing streak that currently totals at 5.

The Bruins do not have the luxury of treating this like Florida games of yore, especially since the Panthers rallied to beat them in their last confrontation. They might have desperate goaltending and defense, but Joel Quenneville knows what his team’s strengths are, and uses them to (mostly) great effect. Given that a number of these players could find themselves either being bumped down, out of, or up the lineup that involve them suddenly finding their job security in question, this could be a big game to experiment, find some rhythm, and more importantly, a win.

Let’s see if they have it in them.