The Bruins are the clear favorites to beat the Florida Panthers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The B’s earned that right/burden by virtue of their record-breaking 65-win season.

But if the Panthers claim not to be intimidated by the Big, Bad Bruins 2.0 in the opening series that starts at the Garden for Games 1 and 2 on Monday and Wednesday (the rest of the schedule was expected to be released late Friday night), it’s not false bravado. The two teams essentially split the four-game season series (the B’s can say they took the series by going 2-1-1), with both teams winning their home games.

In fact, it was the Cats’ overtime win over the B’s on Jan. 28 in Sunrise that may have saved their season. The Panthers were massive underachievers to that point. The defending Presidents’ Trophy winners were an unimpressive 23-22-6, they had lost their previous three games and seemed ready to slip into oblivion. And it looked like David Pastrnak had pounded at least one nail into the Panthers’ coffin when he scored the go-ahead goal with 49 seconds left in regulation.

But with the goalie pulled and just three seconds left, Sasha Barkov tied the game, then Sam Reinhart won it 17 seconds into overtime. That gave the Panthers life, and they made one final push with a six-game win streak down the stretch to eventually qualify for the playoffs.

Here’s a little more fodder for the dread-inclined. In the previous game in Sunrise back on Nov. 23, the B’s lost 5-2 in one of their more convincing defeats of the season.

Matthew Tkachuk has been everything the Panthers had hoped he would be, though they paid dearly for him, sending Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman Mackenzie Weegar to Calgary for him last summer. In some other era without Connor McDavid, his 40-69-109 points campaign would have won him the Hart Trophy. Barkov will be a Selke candidate for years to come, Carter Verhaeghe (42-31-73) might be the most underrated player in the NHL and defenseman Brandon Montour (16-57-73) is enjoying a breakout season.

The Panthers have their flaws, to be sure. Their most glaring one is their 3.32 goals against average, 21st in the NHL. Still, one could certainly see how, after making the difficult adjustment after the big trade, the Panthers (a not too-shabby 58-18-6 last season) convincing themselves they could take the next logical step forward by slaying the Bruins.

Florida defenseman Radko Gudas, speaking with reporters in Sunrise after the team’s loss to Carolina in their regular season finale on Thursday, seemed eager to tackle the tall task.

“I think we are a confident group who believes we can play with anyone. The way we played Boston all season, it gave us confidence,” said Gudas. “They are the team they are for a reason, but we are in the playoffs for a reason as well. I am excited for the challenge. If you want to win it all, you have to get through the biggest hurdle and that’s right from the start for us.”

Starting Monday, the bulls-eye the B’s have been wearing on their back only gets bigger.