The NHL schedule-makers have granted the Bruins a quick do-over with the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Now it’s up to them what they do with it.

Less than a week ago the B’s went down to south Florida and expected to exact some old school revenge on the Panthers for transgressions from their series last year, most notably Sam Bennett’s well-disguised sucker punch of Brad Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk’s late punches in his fight with David Pastrnak.

But the Panthers didn’t engage, at least not Tkachuk and Bennett, who added another item to the B’s IOU list when he ran goalie Joonas Korpisalo late in the game last Tuesday.

And no matter how you may feel about certain Panthers keeping their gloves on, it turned out to be a smart strategy. It was clear early on that vengeance had clouded the Bruins’ minds and they were not in the right frame of mind to actually play hockey. The Panthers came at them in waves and the B’s could not slow down the rush. By the end of 20 minutes, Florida was up 4-1 and they cruised to a victory.

The B’s cannot afford a repeat performance. They have to play with emotion, but harness it in a more constructive manner.

“We have to get back to playing hockey,” said coach Jim Montgomery before an optional practice on Sunday. “I love it that we have emotion and they’re a rival. But at the same time, we have to be disciplined. We’re taking too many penalties.”

In the season opener, Trent Frederic went after the talented agitator Tkachuk, taking an unsportsmanlike penalty in the first period – Frederic said Tkachuk offered to fight him and then reneged – and later the two players went off for matching roughing penalties.

That some of their focal point players for Florida didn’t drop the gloves – A.J. Greer and Mark Kastelic did go at it – only contributed to the B’s lack of focus.

“If they don’t want to fight, there’s not much you can do about it,” said Frederic. “That’s kind of the bummer part of it. It makes it more frustrating in that sense.”

Frederic and Tkachuk go way back. They both grew up in the tight-knit hockey community that has blossomed in St. Louis. They both were drafted in the first round in 2016 – Tkachuk going sixth overall to Calgary and Frederic going 30th to Boston – and have known each other and been friends for as long as Frederic can remember.

At the moment, the best that you could say about their relationship is that they’re frenemies.

“We sure were (friends). I grew up with him since I was probably five. But yeah, it’s probably been different the last couple of years. But yeah, we’re family friends,” said Frederic.

“It’s business. I don’t’ really care. Maybe when our careers are over, we can have a reconciliation. But right now, I can’t stand him.”

Frederic realizes that his current antipathy toward his old chum cannot boil over into taking bad penalties. As well as the B’s penalty kill has been performing, too many penalties slow any kind of 5-on-5 momentum the B’s want to build. Frederic said Montgomery has a saying that goes something like “play with emotion, but don’t be emotional.”

“Which is true. You have to play with emotion in this game but not get too emotional,” said Frederic. “It’s a 1 o’clock game, should be a good crowd. I think it will be a fun game. I’m sure it will be chippy. We’ll see how it goes.”

It’s not even been a week and the two teams are different than they were in the season opener. The Panther’s rock in the middle, Sasha Barkov, is out with an ankle injury and Tkachuk missed Saturday’s game in Buffalo. The champs are also coming off back-to-back divisional losses to the Sabres and Senators.

The B’s, meanwhile, have injected Matt Poitras into the lineup and are coming off a pair of wins over Montreal and Los Angeles, flawed though they may have been.

“We just have to go out and win and beat them on the scoresheet,” said Frederic. “We haven’t done that in a little bit. I’m sure it will be a physical game and we’ll try to stay out of the box as much as we can.”