Panthers run away with a 6-1 rout of Bruins in Game 2, tie series as fists fly | Photos
SUNRISE — A late second-period goal vaulted the Bruins to a win in Game 1 of their series against the Panthers. Florida returned the favor in Game 2.
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Defenseman Gustav Forsling fired a shot from the point at nearly 92 mph, putting the Panthers ahead 3-1 with just 0.3 seconds remaining in the second period. The defender’s goal gave Florida the momentum to knot the series at one with a 6-1 win over Boston at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday.
“I think it was as impactful as their third goal last game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “They scored right at the end. … The game was almost the same, was it not? It was even and flat. Apparently, the last thing you want to do in this series is score first because the other team gets five.”
Both teams missed out on early chances, but Boston cashed in on an opportunity first. Winger Pavel Zacha, approaching Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky from Bobrovsky’s left, dished a pass across the face of the net to Charlie Coyle, who sunk his shot with ease to put the Bruins up 1-0.
The Panthers finally made good on one of their opportunities early in the second period. Steven Lorentz redirected a Brandon Montour shot from the blue line, getting the puck past Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman. It was Florida’s first goal in more than 53 minutes of game time.
“Inflection points, you’re always looking for that, and sometimes it’s the things you don’t understand the why of it,” Maurice said. “But our bench was jacked up. It’s a big goal. It’s an important (goal). But there was a lot of emotion brought into our bench with that. … It’s really important that the players that do the hard stuff get a reward. He scores that goal, and everybody’s about 3 inches higher when they jump up.”
The Panthers went ahead later in the period. Captain Aleksander Barkov passed to leading scorer Sam Reinhart. Swayman deflected the shot right back to Barkov, who fired a quick shot to put the Panthers in the lead. Reinhart notched four assists in the win, setting a franchise playoff record for single-game assists.
Forsling’s goal gave the Panthers insurance, and Eetu Luostarinen gave Florida a three-goal advantage early in the third period. Barkov netted his second goal of the game with 9:08 left in the third period, scoring the Panthers’ first power-play goal against Boston this season.
The teams got into a pair of whole-line fights, with misconduct penalties given out to Boston’s Justin Brazeau, Trent Frederic and Derek Forbort. Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen and Dmitry Kulikov received misconducts, too.
The Panthers and Bruins scuffled again after defenseman Brandon Montour netted a short-handed goal to put Florida up 6-1. Boston’s Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy picked up misconduct penalties after that fight, as did Florida’s Sam Reinhart and Niko Mikkola. Matthew Tkachuk and David Pastrnak also dropped the gloves for a fight at center ice, receiving misconduct penalties of their own.
In total, 12 players received misconduct penalties.
“That’s playoff hockey,” Lorentz said. “That happens sometimes, and we’ve just got to move forward.”
Bobrovsky closed out the game for the home team. The veteran goalie finished the game with 15 saves on just 16 Boston shots.
“(The defensemen) were great,” Bobrovsky said. “They played a tight, hard-fought game, defended well, and it was just a complete, great game.”
The series moves to Boston for Games 3 and 4, with the teams facing off again on Friday at 7 p.m.
“It’s just passionate fans, doing what they do,” Lorentz said. “We obviously hear what’s going on and we feed off the energy, whether it’s a home crowd or away crowd. Energy’s energy. We’re looking forward to a good atmosphere in Boston, and I think we know what their fans are going to bring.”
