The Bruins began a stretch of three games in four nights Wednesday, heading down to Florida to take on the undefeated Panthers. They’ll play again Thursday in Carolina against the Hurricanes, before returning home Saturday to see the Panthers again. The Hurricanes are also undefeated

Given the hot starts by both the Panthers and Hurricanes, their difficult three games in four nights stretch is certainly their first tough test of the season.

Wednesday, they got off to a rough start, falling to the Panthers 4-1.

"We got outplayed a little. It's not like it was one team dominated. I thought we each had our way in a period,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy. “The third, they did what they had to do to put the game away. We did have a push, but it came down to a couple of plays in each end where they got a save or they finished or the opposite."

The Bruins jumped out to the 1-0 lead in the first on Charlie Coyle’s second of the season. But in a period where the Bruins went toe-to-toe with the Panthers, they ultimately left the ice for intermission tied at one a piece.

The Panthers never looked back from there.

“Our first was excellent. It was 1-1, but we felt pretty good about our game,” said Cassidy. “All the things we did well in the first, specifically manage the puck against a good offensive team, we did the exact opposite in the second period. It started right away. Below the goal line breakouts, got pinned in our end, forced some plays.”

The Panthers had their way with the Bruins in the middle frame, outshooting them 14-2 and scored the period’s lone goal.

With their victory, the Panthers improve to 7-0-0 and very much look like the most complete team in all the National Hockey League.

That certainly presents a problem for the Bruins and the rest of the Atlantic division.

“They’ve put pieces in place here. They’ve got a proven coaching staff, they’ve got a goaltender who’s had a lot of success, [he] has won a Vezina with a young kid right behind him,” said Cassidy. “Their pieces are in place; we’ve got a lot of good pieces in place [too].”

The Panthers managed to beat the Bruins with a balanced attack. It was stellar goaltending in net from Sergei Bobrovsky, and timely goals in different forms. Whether it was Anthony Duclair driving the net and beating Linus Ullmark with a nifty move, or Mason Marchment finding twine after racing in on a 2-on-5, the Panthers did what the Bruins couldn’t do: capitalize on their chances.

"You can't lose a battle. One guy in the zone against five. Three guys are not gonna run over there, it's not gonna be a 5-on-1,” said Cassidy. It's a hard-working goal by them. “It doesn’t come to the slot, we don't eat the puck, close quick enough, not on the dot line when the puck gets there, and we don't get a save that goes through Linus.”

With the Bruins battling through injuries up front, Jack Studnicka got the promotion from the fourth line, centering Taylor Hall and Charlie Coyle. After a very impressive first period from Studnicka, the 22-year old seemingly disappeared in the second and third periods.

He saw just two shifts in the third.

“He’s had better games. It’s not an easy league to win, and this is a really good team. We knew that. Their line didn’t have much going,” said Cassidy. “At the end of the day in general, they didn't seem to get a lot going. He's just one of the three pieces."

Jeremy Swayman will be in net Thursday in Carolina.

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