The Florida Panthers came into the NHL postseason with a profound determination to bring home the Stanley Cup. While all 16 of the playoff teams had the same aspiration, the Panthers made it all the way the Stanley Cup Final a year ago where they were stopped short by the Vegas Golden Knights.

Head coach Paul Maurice's team appeared to be on track through the first round of the playoffs as they dispatched the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games, and they moved on to a second-round battle with the Boston Bruins.

While the Lightning is clearly the team's in-state rival, the hatred between the Panthers and the Bruins cannot be overstated. The Bruins were a record-setting team in 2022-23, setting new NHL standards for both points and wins in the regular season. Nevertheless, the Panthers upset the Bruins in seven games, winning the final game on Boston ice in overtime on a wrist shot by Carter Verheaghe.

While the Bruins had a strong year despite the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, they were constantly reminded of their painful playoff defeat all the way their first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs this year.

They were finally able to get past that debacle when David Pastrnak scored a seventh-game, overtime goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round.

Panthers need a strong performance from stars Matthew Tkachuk and Sergei Bobrovsky

The Panthers have a powerful emotional leader in Matthew Tkachuk who has emerged as a player that Maurice can depend on at all times. Tkachuk is coming off an 88-point regular season, and he is a noted playoff performer. He had 24 points and an NHL-leading 74 penalty minutes in last year's postseason and he already had 10 points in Florida's first seven postseason games this year.

Maurice has called Tkachuk a superstar and he is clearly a player who can change any game with his talent and ability to agitate opponents.

If there's an X-factor in this series against the Bruins, it has to be goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. The pressure is always on a top goaltender in any playoff series, but there is more on Bobrovsky this year than there was a year ago.

Last year, the Panthers were the team that came out of nowhere to upset the league-leading Bruins and then rip through the Eastern Conference to get to the Stanley Cup Final. They were underdogs in ensuing matchups against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes, but won both with authrority.

This year, they are favored over the Bruins, even though Boston won each of the four regular-season games against the Panthers and Game 1 of the series on the road. The Bruins got the measure of Bobrovsky by nailing him for 4 goals in a 5-1 triumph (1 goals was into an empty net).

However, Bobrovsky bounced back with an excellent performance in Florida's 6-1 triumph in a fight-filled Game 2. He displayed confidence and a clear-headed approach in stopping 14 of 15 shots in the one-sided Panthers victory.

Panthers must get the goaltending from Bobrovsky to match Boston's Jeremy Swayman

Bobrovsky must come through on an every-game basis from this point forward because it appears that Swayman is on a magnificent run with the Bruins.

Prior to Boston's poor performance in Game 2, Swayman's goaltending had been one of the most remarkable stories of this year's playoff season.

He had allowed two goals or fewer in his previous six games, and he was largely responsible for the team's first-round triumph over the Maple Leafs. He was also razor sharp in the Game 1 victory over the Panthers Monday night.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery thought his team lacked “juice” in the Game 2 loss, but he still thought the Bruins were in good shape because they had set out to split the first two games in Sunrise and had achieved that goal.

He clearly believes that the Bruins will come with a full effort when they return to TD Garden in Boston Friday night. He also believes that Swayman will be back in top form in that game.

If he is right and the Bruins goalie can limit the Panthers to no more than two goals, Bobrovsky's play will be the X-factor for the Panthers.

He must show he can stop Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and the Bruins' supporting offensive cast.

Bobrovsky had decent regular season for Panthers

Bobrovsky had a 36-17-4 record for the Panthers in the regular season with a 2.37 goals against average and a .915 save percentage to go with 6 shutouts. During the postseason, he has a 5-2 record with a 2.71 GAA and an .893 save percentage. That latter figure shows that Bobrovsky has been somewhat vulnerable to this point and must pick it up.

It does not seem likely that Florida will overwhelm Boston like it did in Game 2 and the Panthers will need Bobrovsky to step up the rest of the way if they are going to get through their second-round series.