The Bruins are coming off another impressive win — this time it was down in Raleigh, North Carolina where Boston took care of the Hurricanes 2-1 in overtime off the stick of David Pastrnak.

Ryan Spooner got the Black and Gold off and running with his seventh goal of the season, but then with 20 seconds left in the second period, Nathan Gerbe evened things up at 1-1. It stayed that way until the extra frame where Pastrnak received a back-handed pass from Carl Soderberg and buried the puck past Anton Khudobin for another crucial two points.

Thanks to the Bruins’ five points in their last three games and the Senators falling back down to earth, Claude Julien’s squad now has a three point lead over Ottawa for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Panthers will invade TD Garden tonight trailing the B’s by just four points. Just 10 days ago down in South Florida, the Black and Gold fell to their Atlantic Division foes in a shootout, 2-1.

The Black and Gold have six games remaining, and once again, they face their biggest game of the season against the Panthers.

Here is your complete Bruins-Panthers preview:

Gametime: 7:00 PM
Records: Bruins 38-25-13 (89 points)/Panthers 35-26-15 (85 points)
TV/Radio: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Location: TD Garden

Bruins’ projected lines:

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Krejci
Milan Lucic-Ryan Spooner-David Pastrnak
Reilly Smith-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Chris Kelly-Gregory Campbell-Max Talbot

Zdeno Chara-Zach Trotman
Dennis Seidenberg-Torey Krug
Matt Bartkowski-Adam McQuaid

Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg

Panthers’ projected lines:

Jonathan Huberdeau-Aleksander Barkov-Jaromir Jagr
Brandon Pirri-Vincent Trocheck-Jimmy Hayes
Jussi Jokinen-Dave Bolland-Brad Boyes
Scottie Upshall-Derek MacKenzie-Tomas Kopecky

Brian Campbell-Aaron Ekblad
Willie Mitchell-Erik Gudbranson
Dmitry Kulikov-Alex Petrovic

Roberto Luongo
Dan Ellis

Who to watch for Bruins: David Pastrnak

We ask the question what took so long to bring Pastrnak up to the big club because all he has done in 40 games is produce. The youngest player in the NHL is now up to 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) to go along with a plus-13 rating. One wonders if the B’s first round pick would’ve been a candidate for the Calder Trophy if he started the season in Boston instead of Providence.

Pastrnak’s overtime game-winner Sunday night was a thing of beauty. His speed and drive to the net was unmatched and in a season that hasn’t been full of excitement, the 18 year-old has brought plenty of swag to the hometown team.

Over his last five games, “Pasta” has a goal and three assists on a line which has done a lot of heavy lifting for Julien as of late. In the B’s final six games, the right-winger needs to keep stuffing the stat sheet because they are going to need it.

Who to watch for Panthers: Brandon Pirri

Pirri has only played in 43 games, but he certainly knows how to put the puck in the back of the net. The 23 year-old is now up to 20 goals on the season, but he hasn’t scored in two straight games, which is uncharacteristic for the youngster.

In Pirri’s last five games, he still has three goals including a two-goal performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is second on the team in goals only trailing Nick Bjugstad (24) who has played in 29 more games than the center.

Pirri is on a torrid pace right now for a desperate Florida team. This is a bad combination for Boston, so they better be prepared to follow Pirri’s every move tonight once he steps foot on the ice.

Game Day Edge: Keep the momentum going

After a crushing overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks last Thursday, the B’s bounced back quite nicely against the Rangers on Saturday afternoon taking an early 3-0 lead and never looking back in their 4-2 victory while following that up with the 2-1 OT win in Carolina.

With just six games left and a three point lead over the Sens, the Bruins can’t really afford going pointless on any given night.

The key to Boston’s success is getting out to an early lead and building that lead especially on home ice. That allows them to play their way. The Black and Gold can build their defensive layers, get pucks in deep and protect the house with Tuukka Rask.

The B’s will look for their third straight win Tuesday night and it starts with capitalizing on scoring chances.