The off-season officially ends!
Just the facts
When: Tonight, 7ish PM
Where: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
How to follow: ESPN, ESPN+, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Opposing perspective: Litter Box Cats
Game notes
- Barring any last-minute changes, the Bruins and Panthers will kick off their 2024-2025 seasons tonight in Sunrise. With Hurricane Milton bearing down on central Florida, it’s possible that changes, but as of Monday PM, the game was scheduled to be played as normal. Sending prayers, good vibes, etc. to all in the storm’s path.
- I put “7ish PM” for the start time, as I assume the game won’t start anywhere near 7 PM. With the Panthers raising their banner from last season’s Stanley Cup win, I’d assume the puck won’t drop until somewhere close to 7:30 PM, but don’t quote me on that.
- Like the Bruins, the Panthers played a preseason game against the Los Angeles Kings at Quebec City’s Videotron Centre; unlike the Bruins, their game went pretty well, a 4-2 win on Saturday.
- This year’s Panthers feature most of the same key guys who were big parts of the Florida teams that ended the Bruins’ last two seasons: Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Sergei Bobrovsky, etc. From last year’s team, the Panthers lost Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, among a few others.
- If you include the two guys on their injured list, 20% of the Panthers’ Opening Night forwards are former Bruins: AJ Greer, Jesper Boqvist, and Tomas Nosek (injured).
- Along with Jesper Boqvist, the Panthers also signed defenseman Adam Boqvist, giving them a comfortable lead in NHL Boqvists.
- You know where things stand for the Bruins at this point, with some big offseason additions (Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm) and departures (Linus Ullmark). On paper, I’d say this group is a bit deeper than the team that got knocked out by Florida in the spring, but time will tell.
- Most signs point to Joonas Korpisalo starting for the Bruins, a line that would have terrified many of us back in July or August but is slightly less scary with Jeremy Swayman back in the fold. Swayman hasn’t been ruled out as the starter, but considering he missed the entirety of training camp and hasn’t seen any game action in months, it’d be a little silly to just throw him in net.
See ya tonight!