Florida fell behind and chased the game, playing right into Boston's hands
Florida fell behind and chased the game, playing right into Boston's hands
It’s do-or-die time for the Florida Panthers.
Sure, they’re only down two games to one in their best-of-seven opening round playoff series against the Boston Bruins, but digging that hole any deeper would create a pit that would be extremely improbably to climb out of.
“It's our job to come back in two days and play better,” said Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling.
Friday night against the Bruins, Florida did what they have been saying they cannot do in order to play their game and have the best opportunity to take down the Presidents’ Trophy winners.
They fell behind. Early.
Taylor Hall’s long wrist shot at the 2:26 mark of the opening period eluded the glove of Alex Lyon and put Florida behind the proverbial eight ball.
The game remained tight for a while, but as they predicted, slowly but surely, the Panthers opened up their game more and more, allowing the Bruins to sit back and wait for cracks to open up in Florida’s defense.
“There’s no cheating our game,” said Florida winger Sam Reinhart. “When you try and break the game open, that only gives them more opportunity.”
Looking at the advanced metrics, the Panthers had a solid first period, despite the deficit.
Then came the second period, which was a Bruins blitz.
They dominated all aspects of the game, from puck possession to shots on goal to high-danger chances to expected goals.
It was the first time during the series’ opening three games that it looked and felt like a top seed playing against an eighth place team.
“They came out (in the second period) and got a push on us, we started to lose some faceoffs and that started to be a problem,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “They were good, which we would expect.”
As Maurice explained, Florida’s inability to generate much offense came from the team getting out of their game plan and trying to create more offense.
Assignments get blown, or blown off, for a potential pass or move, leading to lanes opening up, and suddenly, a tightly contested game becomes anything but.
“I would certainly agree with anybody that said that we didn't generate enough offense in the game,” Maurice said. “The reason was, we were trying to generate offense the game. It's going to be a tight game straight through for us to have a chance, and in that, it's also the way (for us to have success).”