Panthers shut down Bruins in 6-2 win to take 2-1 series lead
BOSTON — The Florida Panthers shut down the Boston Bruins, allowing 16 shots, in a 6-2 win Friday night in Game 3 of their second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series to take a 2-1 lead.
Florida hounded Boston in its own zone for the first two periods, outshooting the Bruins 24-8 and allowing two high-danger shots.
An early goal from Evan Rodrigues made the difference. Rodrigues batted the bouncing rebound of a Gustav Forsling shot past Jeremy Swayman just after it dipped below the crossbar to give Florida the early lead.
”We just played our game,” Rodrigues said. “We’ve done a really good job of hanging onto pucks in the offensive zone and trying to wear them down and turning it into a three-quarter ice game. I thought our defense played phenomenal. Their gaps were incredible and when they’re asserting themselves like they are, it’s what makes us a really good team.”
It was not until late in the second period that Boston had its longest shift of sustained offensive pressure and it immediately ended with Mason Lohrei high-sticking Steven Lorentz, drawing blood, and ending up with a four-minute double minor penalty.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Carter Verhaeghe each took advantage of the opportunity and provided power play strikes one minute apart to give the Panthers a three-goal lead heading into the intermission.
Brandon Montour added another power play marker 3:09 into the third period, blasting a slap shot past Swayman to give the Panthers a four-goal lead. Jakob Lauko broke a streak of 10 consecutive Panthers goals spanning from the second period of Game 2 with an answer 5:01 into the third period.
Boston's Jake DeBrusk added a goal 8:32 into the third, but the Bruins could not claw their way back any further. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped the final six shots he faced, including some key saves on the penalty kill to lock it down.
“At the start of the third period, I thought we were off a foot,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Our stick is a half foot out of the passing lanes on that power play and the pace of it and Sergei makes big saves. We needed that. That kind of got us back into the game a little bit.”
Sam Reinhart scored an empty netter with 1:24 to go. Rodrigues added his second goal of the game with a quick one-timer on the power play - Florida's fourth on the night - in the final minute.
Here are three takeaways from Game 3:
Sam Bennett's return much needed for Panthers
Reliable second-line center Sam Bennett made his return from a hand injury, which kept him out of the lineup since Game 2 of the first-round series against the Lightning. His impact was immediately felt in multiple ways.
Florida got its first goal of the game from its third line — a line that had been effectively shut down to start the series — with Anton Lundell adding an extra jump on the forecheck in that shift after filling in for Bennett on Line 2 previously.
Bennett got in on the scoring party, too. He assisted on Tarasenko’s goal, setting him up in the left face-off dot with a slick feed through traffic. His physicality and speed also made the Panthers a much more dangerous team while keeping the pressure on the Bruins. His impact was apparent all around.
“He’s just such a talented player,” Matthew Tkachuk said of Bennett. “He is such a hard worker, he’s physical, he gets in on the forecheck, he is strong on pucks and we certainly missed him when he was out. When he comes in, it’s just such a huge boost to our team and to our locker room. Guys are jacked up to have him back and I thought he played awesome, had some big hits tonight, made some great plays. He kind of touches every aspect of the game for us and he was super good for us.”
Panthers' power play comes up huge after slow start
Florida’s power play started 1-for-11 in the series, including 0-for-2 to start Game 2, for a variety of reasons. The puck movement was slow, the Panthers kept force-feeding the puck into the slot and the Bruins were reading it easily.
After the Panthers got their opportunity on that four-minute power play, they switched it up. Tarasenko first ripped a wrist shot from the perimeter to make it a 2-0 game. Then Verhaeghe drove the front of the net and deflected a quick feed from Tkachuk past Swayman.
On both occasions, Florida had bodies near the front of the net taking away Swayman’s eyes and the Panthers capitalized.
”That was a huge opportunity for us and we knew it,” Bennett said. “And we capitalized. I think power-play goals in the playoffs can be hard to come by at times and we certainly did a great job of bearing down and getting two very important goals at an important time in the game.”
Aaron Ekblad back in full form
After a rough Game 1 full of costly turnovers, Aaron Ekblad looked like himself in Game 3.
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He came up with multiple key plays in the defensive zone, including two takeaways that turned into clears on two different penalty kills.
Ekblad and Forsling were among the top players of the game in puck possession and scoring chances against and both were key in shutting down Boston’s stars from the get-go.
”His last two games, he’s played like a leader,” Maurice said of Ekblad. “He didn’t like his game, he came to the rink with a snarl and he’s been good for us.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Stanley Cup playoffs: Florida Panthers smack Boston Bruins for 2-1 series lead
