Montgomery: ‘No question’ Panthers are Bruins’ biggest rival right now originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
BOSTON — The Bruins have had many great rivalries during their 100-year history as an NHL franchise.
Their most hated rival of all time is, of course, the Montreal Canadiens. These two Original Six teams have squared off in the playoffs an astounding 34 times, with many memorable moments produced from those matchups.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are huge rivals, too, especially when you factor in the four playoff series against the B’s since 2013, including last season’s Game 7 thriller in overtime.
But with the Canadiens not being very competitive for much of the last decade, including no playoff series against the B’s since 2014, that rivalry has lost some of its luster. And while the Bruins-Leafs rivalry has been pretty exciting of late, it’s also been one-sided, with Boston winning all of four of the aforementioned playoff series.
So, who’s the Bruins’ primary rival right now? It’s the Florida Panthers.
“No question,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters before Monday’s game versus the Panthers at TD Garden.
“They’ve beaten us two years in a row. They won the Cup. They went to the Cup Final. They’re the class of the NHL until they’re beaten. If you want to do well in this league, you have to go through them.”
Montgomery is absolutely right.
The Panthers are the team everyone in the league — and especially in the Eastern Conference — is chasing.
The Bruins lost to the Panthers in seven games in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and then Florida emerged victorious in a six-game second-round series last season.
These two teams don’t like each other one bit. In fact, if you were to rank the most entertaining and physical games of the last two seasons — playoffs included — that list would be full of Bruins vs. Panthers matchups.
This rivalry also has produced the most hated villain for Boston sports fans right now, and that’s Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk. Not only does he get under the opponents’ skin, he fights and scores goals. He is, in many ways, the perfect hockey villain.
The Bruins have enjoyed plenty of regular season success against the Panthers over the last two seasons, but playoff success has eluded them. And if the B’s are going to get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2019, they almost certainly will need to get past the Panthers to do it.
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