Panthers forward Kevin Stenlund speaks after practice on May 7. It is supposed to be hard. Some say a series does not truly begin until the home team drops a game. The Boston Bruins won the first battle in their seven-game series against the Florida Panthers on Monday night by a final score of 5-1. This was after the Panthers had a full week off from game action while the Bruins had a quick turnaround after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in round one. One question that surfaced before game one, what would benefit more? Rest or Going the distance. The Hockey world got their answer in game 1. Not always the case, though. The Panthers won game one of the Eastern Conference Final in the 2023 postseason in quadruple overtime against the Carolina Hurricanes after five days off. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAwNjE3OTM2NjIzMjQ4NDky/img_6014.jpg] In the NHL, teams that take a 1-0 series lead go on to win the series 68.6% of the time. “You’re always going to have a game that you don’t like,” Head Coach Paul Maurice said after practice on Tuesday. “Even if it’s not the critical piece of the next game, you’ll always look back to it. It will be a loss that will help you going forward.” Over the last three postseasons, the Panthers have had at least one series win where they’ve dropped the first game: the 2022 first round against the Washington Capitals, and the 2023 first round against the Bruins. Certainly not new territory for the Panthers. However, both those series brought special teams struggles for the Panthers. They did not convert a single power play in the Washington series in 18 tries. Against Boston last postseason, the Panthers killed just under 60% of their penalties. Those series as mentioned were won at five-on-five, which hurt the Panthers while only going to the penalty kill twice. The second time was when the game was out of reach. Florida has not converted on a single power play against the Bruins this season in five games, regular season and postseason on 14 tries. “[Boston] is obviously solid,” Sam Reinhart said when asked about the Bruins penalty kill. “We just need to be more assertive and a little bit quicker. Work off the net a little more. You don’t need to look for the perfect play all the time. The more you can create around the net, the more plays will open up for us.” Although Florida’s offseason mission was to get bigger in order to outmuscle teams in their puck battles, the Bruins do have the size advantage here. Per Elite Prospects, the Bruins have the fifth highest average weight at 203 pounds, while Florida is tied for 17th at 198. Florida had the shot attempt advantage in game one, but Boston was well equipped to force the Panthers to the perimeter while not overcommitting to the strong side, so that if the Panthers ended up winning their battles and the puck went low-to-high, there was constantly a defenseman there to clean up the rebounds. Game one on Monday however for Florida was lost due to untimely turnovers in their own end, and an inability to convert on second chances on Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman. The Panthers do see their mistakes as correctable as they spent their off day watching tape from game 1. It will have to do it without forward Sam Bennett once again, who has been out of the lineup while sustaining an upper-body injury in game two of the first round back on Apr. 23. Although Bennett had an extensive skate the day before, he did not participate in line rushes at morning skate. Maurice said that he expects Bennett to be with the team when they travel up to Boston, so either a game three or four return looks to be in the cards. Bennett was given a one to three game timeline for his return. Florida matched their number of wins on the road at home by winning the last four games of the regular season, including game 82 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Apr. 16 to clinch the Atlantic Division, while Boston lost their last two to fall to second. The Panthers wanted home ice for this reason, to not start off on the road, and to ease the travel on their bodies. Florida has not played a road game outside the state of Florida since their game in Boston just over a month ago, where they lost in overtime 3-2. Now is where the Panthers really need a home win, because they are as confident as can be that their style of play carries over to the road. Florida won 10 straight games on the road last postseason en route to the Stanley Cup Final. Also, the Florida Panthers have never come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a series in their franchise's history. A Maurice-led team has never come back from a 0-2 deficit neither. “It’s so mentally challenging in the postseason,” Reinhart said about not panicking after one game. “When you’re going through a series, the ups and downs. You can be up 3-0, lose a game in Tampa, and it feels like the world’s ending for a minute. Everything settles back down. Then you get through a series and you’re kind of mentally relaxed for a little bit.” A team who likes to live in 24-hours fragments are looking to even things out tonight at Amerant Bank Arena. Whatever the result ends up being could really turn the tides one way or another in this series. 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