BOSTON — The Panthers are no stranger to playing at TD Garden and, in particular, no stranger to beating the Bruins in front of their home crowd. Such was the case Friday night when Florida earned a 6-2 win over Boston in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to take a 2-1 series lead.
While the Panthers don’t seem like they’re intimidated by the TD Garden crowd having won four straight playoff games in Boston, Matthew Tkachuk credited it to the mindset they have coming into enemy territory.
“I don’t know if (not being intimidated) has anything to do with anything. I think it’s just the mindset of coming on the road, just being together with the boys and it’s kind of ‘us against the world’ type of mindset and really sticking together. We have such a close team, so I think it helps when we go on the road. It’s just us versus everybody.”
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The Panthers, who were the eighth seed going into last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, had a similar mindset last season. They upset the Bruins — who were the NHL’s best team — in Round 1 with a Game 7 win at TD Garden and eventually made their way to the Stanley Cup Final.
Florida ultimately fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.
But the Panthers aren’t thinking about last year, and rather are just focused on the task at hand.
“I think the mindset is take the best from the games whether you win or lose and move on to the next game,” Vladimir Tarasenko said after Friday’s game. “It’s going one game at a time. This game is done and it’s time to prepare for the next one.”
The Panthers scored four power-play goals in Friday’s win against a Bruins penalty kill that has given them so much success throughout the playoffs. They have a chance to take a commanding 3-1 series lead and push Boston to the brink of elimination Sunday in Game 4.
