The Boston Bruins got through the first round with their top players and depth players producing. Now, they haven't battled the way the Florida Panthers have.
Sam Bennett and Evan RodriguesAs the Boston Bruins try to stave off elimination in Round 2 of their Stanley Cup playoff series against Florida Tuesday night, one thing is abundantly clear: the Panthers are out-Bruins-ing the Bruins, and the B's have no answer for what the Cats are bringing to the yard.
It isn’t just that Florida has a 3-1 series lead. It’s the way the Panthers are winning that has to be tremendously discouraging for the Bruins.
After Boston won Game 1, Florida has been relentless and determined to knock down the B's with a physically robust attack that neither asks nor gives any quarter.
They’ve also been able to poke holes in Boston’s defense the same way the Bruins did to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round. And now that it’s been confirmed Boston captain Brad Marchand won’t play in Game 5 on Tuesday, the Bruins find themselves unable to punch back in the same way they did so in the first round and how they’ve been punched in this series.
Florida’s big three forwards in Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe have been doing their part, leading the Panthers with a combined 36 points thus far in the 2024 post-season.
Boston’s three top skaters – Marchand, Jake DeBrusk and David Pastrnak – have produced a less than a point-per-game average in the second round.
Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman has produced a sub-.900 save percentage in two of the four games he’s played. Panthers counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky hasn’t exactly stood on his head in this series either, but he’s provided the Panthers with an opportunity to win more often than not.
Boston fans are angry the officiating hasn’t gone their way against Florida, but Leafs fans felt the same way in Round 1, and nobody in Beantown felt sorry for Toronto. It’s overcoming adversity that makes a Stanley Cup champion. While the Bruins deserve credit for eking out a Game 7 win over Toronto, they’ve looked not even close to the same level as Florida. Maybe that’s why their frustration at Panthers pest Sam Bennett has risen with every passing minute of the series. It’s easier to get a hate-on for a gritty envelope-pusher opponent than it is to look honestly at the disparity and depth issues your team has.
This is why Boston is on the verge of going home for the summer. At just about every turn, they’ve been outclassed by Florida for the second consecutive season. This time around, they’re probably not going to take it to a Game 7 the way they did with the Panthers last spring.
This is not to say Boston can’t and won’t win Game 5 – they’re a proud bunch that can summon the tenacity to not fall so fast to the Panthers. But imagining they’re going to win the next three games against Florida is wishful thinking. The Panthers are a well-coached, well-built group that’s set their internal bar sky-high and responded to the challenge with smart, focused hockey.
Marchand’s absence from the lineup in Game 5 may not be the difference in whether or not Boston goes home after five games, but it does lay bare the comparative lack of depth the Bruins have against the Panthers. It all could come to an abrupt end Tuesday night, and if or when it does, Boston management has some very tough questions to deal with. Their competitive window with this collection of players is just about closed, and the autopsy of their season will show that major change is on the horizon.