Even without Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, the Florida Panthers remain in the heads of the Boston Bruins.

The Panthers are the gold standard in the NHL right now, and the Bruins have a lot of work to do to reach that level before the playoffs.

MONTGOMERY SHAKES UP LINES — With Charlie Coyle, Brad Marchand and Morgan Geekie, all without a goal this year, Jim Montgomery shook up his middle six. He moved up Matt Poitras and Justin Brazeau to play with Marchand, while Coyle and Geekie slid down to play with Frederic.

Pastrnak has four points through three games and has found the scoresheet at least once each time out. This is a good matchup for him to pile up the shots, and that generally leads to success, either from Pastrnak scoring himself or his shooting, creating rebound opportunities for others to pounce on.

Keeping the lead intact in the third period, Bobrovsky denied Zacha on a golden opportunity from the left circle at 13:16. With less than nine minutes left on the clock, the Panthers came up big on the penalty kill, surrendering just two shots on goal to Boston’s power play.

The Boston Bruins fell to the Florida Panthers, 4-3, on Monday at the TD Garden as a heated contest led to some undisciplined hockey and the B’s second loss to them in a week. It was another mental and physical contest for the Bruins as the B’s have struggled to figure the Panthers out and have allowed them to get under their skin.