The Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins meet Monday in NHL action at the TD Garden. The Florida Panthers look to get off to a 3-0 start to the season. The Boston Bruins also have a chance to start the year 3-0.

The Florida Panthers are averaging 3.5 goals per game and are scoring on 18.2 percent of their power play opportunities. Matthew Tkachuk leads Florida with 2 goals, Aleksander Barkov has 2 assists and Sam Reinhart has 8 shots on goal. Defensively, the Florida Panthers are allowing 2 goals per game and are killing 85.7 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Sergei Bobrovsky has given up 1 goal on 33 shots faced, and Spencer Knight has allowed 3 goals on 27 shots.

The Boston Bruins are averaging 5.5 goals per game and are scoring on 33.3 percent of their power play opportunities. A.J. Greer leads Boston with 2 goals, David Pastrnak has 3 assists and Pavel Zacha has 7 shots on goal. Defensively, the Boston Bruins are allowing 2.5 goals per game and are killing 85.7 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Linus Ullmark has given up 2 goals on 35 shots faced.

The Panthers are 19-8 in their last 27 road games and 46-19 in their last 65 overall. The Bruins are 41-18 in their last 59 home games and 5-2 in their last 7 overall. The under is 5-0-1 in Panthers last 6 overall. The over is 8-1-1 in Bruins last 10 overall. The Panthers are 7-19 in the last 26 meetings in Boston and 15-36 in the last 51 meetings. The favorite is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.

The Boston Bruins and the plus money at home is very attractive, and I honestly wouldn’t talk you off the ledge if that’s the direction you wanted to go. However, I just think the Florida Panthers are the better side here, and they’re off to a fabulous start, showing a little more balance and an improved effort defensively. Yes, it’s still early, and we’re still figuring these teams out, but I’m just not in a position to bet against the Panthers as long as the line is reasonable. That’s the case here. Give me the Panthers.