Panthers-Bruins Is Quickly Becoming The NHL’s Next Great Rivalry
There are plenty of great rivalries in the National Hockey League, and most of them are decades-long or rooted in geography.
Maple Leafs-Canadiens. Flyers-Penguins. Oilers-Flames.
But now and then a new one develops solely out of the hatred two teams have for each other, and we, the hockey-watching public, reap the benefits.
The fresh-baked rivalry between the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins is exactly that.
I think we all had a sense that there would be no love lost between the two sides after the Panthers came back from a 3-1 series deficit to bounce the Bruins in the first round after a historically dominant run through the regular season.
The Bruins took Game 1 in pretty dominant fashion while the Panthers smoked them in Game 2 by a score of 6-1, but it's the rough stuff that came on Wednesday night that lets you know that this is a bonafide playoff rivalry in the same vein as those brutal Avalanche-Red Wings series in the mid to late '90s.
I mean, we had a full-blown line brawl after a goal. This is some serious old-time hockey we're talking about.
Florida's Brandon Montour scored the sixth and final goal for the Panthers with just over eight minutes to play, and he celebrated by screaming in Brad Marchand's face just like his old teammate Radko Gudas did last year to Toronto Maple Leaf's netminder Joseph Woll.
Marchand didn't love it, and before you knew, there was a yard sale's worth of gloves, buckets, and twigs littering the ice.
Curious about what Marchand saw in that moment? I've got you, pal.
Yeah… that would start a line brawl in a beer league game, let alone a Stanley Cup Playoffs blowout.
Oh, and here's the pièce de résistance as they say: after linesmen got in to separate the two, Montour pretended to lick Marchand.
Damn, what a callback…
But Wait, There's More… Kind Of
The rough stuff wasn't done after that. Just about a minute later Matthew Tkachuk threw hands with… wait this can't be right…
*Checks notes*
David Pastrnak? Well, alright…
After that line brawl, you could tell tensions were still high because Tkachuk and Pastrnak started getting chippy with each other while they were waiting to get explanations from the officials.
After that, Pastrnak went back to the bench and appeared to ask his B's head coach Jim Montgomery if he was cleared to trade knuckle sandwiches with Tkahuck. I don't think I've ever seen that, but as you're about to see Pasta doesn't do a ton of fighting, so maybe he wasn't aware that that wasn't necessary.
Anyway, Monty approved, and when Pastrnak hopped the boards for his next shift, I think his mitts hit the ice before his skate blades did. He squared up with the man they call "The Rat King" and then…
…was soundly beaten.
Still, this was one of the more intense fights you'll see. It wasn't pretty, but it was real. It wasn't one of those fights where a guy tapped someone on the shins and was like, "I need one," and the other guy obliged.
Nope. This was a real fight.
And while Tkachuk more or less fed Pastrnak his lunch, it doesn't matter. The mere fact that he was willing to drop the mitts will juice up the Bruins going into Game 3, and I wouldn't be surprised if we look back at that moment as a turning point in the series.
If Game 3 isn't appointment viewing for you after this… we probably can't be friends.
The fireworks are far from over, and I wouldn't be stunned if this becomes a heated rivalry for years to come.