Montgomery: ‘No doubt’ 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 played each other a whopping 34 times in the playoffs, with many memorable moments coming from those matchups.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are also big rivals, especially if you count 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 over the past decade, and 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 quite exciting as of late, it has also been one-sided, with Boston winning all four of the aforementioned playoff series.

Who is the Bruins’ main rival right now? It’s the Florida Panthers.

“No doubt about it,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters ahead of Monday’s game against the Panthers at TD Garden.

“They’ve beaten us two years in a row. They’ve won the Cup. They’ve been to the Cup Finals. They’re the class of the NHL until they get beat. If you want to do well in this league, you have to do that. ” to go through it.”

Montgomery is absolutely right.

The Panthers are the team everyone in the league – and especially in the Eastern Conference – is rooting for.

The Bruins lost in seven games to the Panthers in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, then Florida emerged victorious in a six-game second-round series last season.

These two teams don’t like each other at all. If you were to rank the most entertaining and physical games of the past two seasons (including the playoffs), that list would be full of Bruins vs. Panthers matchups.

This rivalry has also produced the most hated villain for Boston sports fans right now, and that is Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk. He not only gets under the opponent’s skin, he fights and scores goals. In many ways, he is the perfect hockey villain.

The Bruins have had a lot of regular season success against the Panthers the past two seasons, but success in the playoffs has eluded them. And if the B’s get to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2019, they will almost certainly have to get past the Panthers to do so.