Bruins take 1-0 series lead, Game 2 set for Wednesday night
Bruins take 1-0 series lead, Game 2 set for Wednesday night
The Florida Panthers showed they can skate with the Presidents' Trophy-winning Boston Bruins during the opening game of their Stanley Cup Quarterfinal series on Monday night.
Unfortunately, just skating with the Bruins won't be good enough if the Panthers want to have any real playoff success.
Florida out-shot Boston 32-28 in Game 1 and looked like the better squad at times, but it was the home team coming away with the 3-1 series-opening victory.
As frustrating as the loss is on its own, there were a lot of positives to take away from the game.
Florida was able to get sustained pressure in the Boston zone from all four lines, and they had more high-danger opportunities than the Bruins.
The Panthers could use a few more Grade-A opportunities, but they did a solid job limiting what Boston was able to do considering the damage they've done all season.
When called upon, goaltender Alex Lyon came up with several key saves for Florida, including every time the Bruins got loose on an odd-man rush.
If the Panthers can replicate their effort from the first half of the game, they could make this a very interesting series.
FIRST PERIOD
Brandon Montour and Matthew Tkachuk got everyone going with a big combo hit on Brad Marchand in front of Florida's goal.
Montour hit Marchand first, then Tkachuk came cross the gritty winger and appeared to get him in the face.
Marchand was slow to get up and glared at one of the officials as he slowly skated to Boston's bench.
Moments later, Aaron Ekblad was called for tripping on a play David Pastrnak appeared to stumble on his own, and two minutes into the game, the Panthers had already done exactly what they said they knew they couldn't do.
It was a great penalty kill by Florida for about a minute and 45 seconds, when Tyler Bertuzzi found Dmitry Orlov alone on the doorstep, but Lyon came up with his first huge save of the night.
Not long after the power play expired, Givani Smith was called for an undisciplined check at center ice and sat for a two-minute interference minor.
This time the Bruins would cash in, with Pastrnak at the receiving end of a pretty no-look pass by Bertuzzi off a rebound. Pastrnak sent the puck into a yawning cage to put the Bruins up 1-0.
Florida, which knew it couldn't get into penalty trouble against Boston, had already been shorthanded twice in the first five minutes of game one.
Over the next several minutes of five-on-five hockey, the Panthers carried play for the most part.
Great shifts in the Bruins zone by each of Florida's forward lines were a reason for optimism, as long as they could stay out of the penalty box.
Lyon's first two even-strength saves were massive. One on Bertuzzi with his left pad while sliding from the right, and the other was a sprawling stop on Trent Frederic after a nice feed from Taylor Hall on a two-on-one.
Florida got a power play late in the period but couldn't tie the game despite a couple decent looks.
They'd start period two with 40 seconds of five-on-four, but went into the first intermission down 1-0 despite outshooting the Bruins 15-8.
SECOND PERIOD
Florida's fourth line came up with a great scoring chance after Ullmark was unable to control a dump in from the neutral zone. The puck ended up behind the net and nearly stuffed in the back door by Smith.
Boston made it 2-0 moments later on a goal Lyon would want to have back, after Marchand shot a weak wrister that hit Lyon in the glove and trickled over the goal line.
Tkachuk and the Panthers got on the scoreboard less than three minutes later. The All-Star jumped on a bad giveaway by Orlov to the left of Boston's net and quickly went backhand forehand on Ullmark.
When the game hit the midway point, Florida was down 2-1 but had held the Bruins to 10 shots on goal, and just six at even-strength.
A missed hit by Gudas in the neutral zone led to a Boston 2-on-1, but Lyon made a sparkling glove save on Frederic to keep it a one-goal game.
Boston went up 3-1 late in the period, and that's when the game really began to shift in their favor. Lyon made an initial save on Bertuzzi but the puck settled onto Lyon's pad while he froze, thinking he had it secured in his midsection.
Jake DeBrusk saw the puck sitting there and poked at Lyon's pad, sending the puck into the net. It was an unfortunate bounce as Florida had been controlling the majority of play but now found themselves trailing by two after two.
THIRD PERIOD
Despite Boston holding the lead, the Panthers were able to continue controlling the puck in the Bruins' end early in the final period.
The best defensive play from the home team came during Florida's second power play of the game. The Cats couldn't generate anything, barely possessing the puck in Boston's end during the two minutes.
The strong penalty kill by the Bruins swung momentum back in their favor.
It became very difficult for Florida to hang on to the puck and generate any zone time in the Bruins end of the ice.
Boston thought they had a 4-1 lead with 3:16 to go, but the goal scored by Hathaway was taken off the board after a successful challenge by Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice.
The puck was clearly in Lyon's glove when Hathaway hit the glove with his stick, causing the puck to come out and go into the net.
It's unfortunate the on-ice officials missed it initially, causing the Panthers to spend their challenge, but at least they got the call right in the end.
Florida would pull Lyon and put some final pressure on the Bruins, but the game would end with Boston pulling out the 3-1 win.
GAME NOTES
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