SUNRISE, FLORIDA — The Boston Bruins took on the Florida Panthers Friday night in the front end of a back-to-back set against the two Sunshine State teams.

“This is a good team here that has been improving a lot the last few years and is a legit contender,” Claude Julien said about the Cats after putting his Black-and-Gold charges through a morning skate.

Here’s what we learned off of Friday night’s impressive 3-1 road win as the team heads to Tampa with a three-game unbeaten streak intact for a Saturday night tilt with the Lightning. All they did last spring was to meet Chicago in the Stanley Cup Final, while dumping Boston, 6-3, on October 12.

…Verdict still out in the Reilly Smith/Jimmy Hayes trade?

The two met for the first time Friday night after swapping jerseys last spring. Smith entered the game second on the Panthers in scoring at 4-3-7 with a plus-4; Hayes third on the Bruins at 3-5-8 and a minus-2.

“So far it’s been a great experience here,” Smith said earlier Friday. “It’s a shock when you’re traded, but you make the most of it.” That he has. One Panther official’s comment about Smith: “He’s the best player on the team.”

Ironically, Smith and Hayes took their team’s first penalty of the game. Smith would fan on a point-blank shot on Tuukka Rask with a minute left in the second period and his team down by two; ditto five minutes into the third. He would end the night with no points and a minus-1; Hayes no points and an even plus-minus.

…Two of the best met in net.

It was Tuukka Rask vs. Roberto Luongo at the BB&T Center. After a shaky start to the season, Rask notched his first shutout of the season with a 6-0 win over Arizona on Tuesday.

Friday night was Rask’s seventh start as he chips away at reducing his 3.67 GAA. Luongo was making his eighth start with a 2.00 GAA.

Advantage Rask in this one.

“He’s had two great games back to back,” David Krejci said after. “It’s good to see him back.”

…Defense leaked oil early.

Rask kept his team in the game early when he held serve on two clean break-ins in the first seven minutes. First, Quinton Howden down the right wing five minutes in, followed by Nick Bjugstad two minutes later.

“The chances we gave them in the first period were self-inflicted,” Julien said postgame. “But [Tuukka] stood tall and allowed us to stay in the game at 0-0. Then we got the goal. It’s always good the lead on the road.”

…Bruins power play rumbles on.

Entering the weekend the Bruins led the NHL in power play percentage at a 32.1% clip (9-for-28) on the man advantage. They would up that stat when Brad Marchand deflected a Zdeno Chara blast past Luongo at 9:22 of the first period. Colin Miller also assisted from the blue line.

And again at 9:13 of the second period when Chara sent a rebound past Luongo on the man-advantage for his first of the season with David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron assisting. The assist for Krejci extended his scoring streak to all nine Bruins games thus far with a 7-8-15 total, tops overall among the league leaders.

The Bruins also led the league in goals per game, scoring 4.12 goals per game, with 33 goals in the first eight games.

…Penalty kill also keys the victory in a frantic final five minutes.

A 5-on-3 Panthers advantage gave the Cats their only goal when Bjugstad shoveled one past Rask at 11:32 of the second. Adam McQuaid took two immediately after to keep the Panthers with a two-man advantage. But the Bruins special teams killed that one off while Rask kept the two-goal lead.

Chara would sit for two with five minutes remaining and Luongo pulled for a 6-on-4, then 6-on-5. Rask would first deny Dmitry Kulikov on a 15-foot point-blank laser, then Aaron Ekblad on the same shot. With two minutes to go, Marchand with two goals in hand took a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding — and again the Cats went on a 6-on-4 advantage. Only to be denied by a stellar penalty killing effort.

“Our power play and penalty kill was good,” Julien said in a major understatement. “Tuukka was outstanding tonight. He certainly made our penalty kill look even better. Credit our guys for the special teams and he held the fort in the third when we needed it. I credit the guys for finding ways to kill those penalties.”

…Two games – one goal against.

Team defense has been front and center the past two games, something that has been a major goal since training camp.

What’s been the key to this turnaround?

“Simplify the game; simplify the game,” Chara said simply after logging 26:19 of ice time and being voted the game’s No. 2 star behind Rask. “That’s the key for us; play basic hockey. It’s allowed us to turn things around.”

What is Julien’s focus for Halloween night?

“We just gotta dig deep and be ready for tomorrow night.”

Three losses to start the season, and now wins in five of their last six, the Bruins appear to have dismissed the demons from the early going. Just in time for Halloween.