Despite having home-ice advantage, and playing against a Boston Bruins team that wasn’t 48 hours removed from winning a Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Florida Panthers were unable to take a 1-0 lead on the B’s in a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the second straight year.
The Bruins beat the Panthers 5-1 at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday night, stealing back home-ice advantage and entering Game 2 with an opportunity to take a commanding lead in the series.
Matthew Tkachuk, who scored Florida’s lone goal in the second period before Boston exploded for five straight, revealed the main thing that needs to change before Wednesday.
“We had a couple of good looks, but against some of the better goalies in the league, you’ve got to get right in front of them,” Tkachuk told reporters afterwards, including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, after Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman dominated in Game 1.
“We were off to the side and maybe looking for plays backdoor, maybe just putting our stick in front of him. You’ve got to stand right in front of him. That’s what they did to [Sergei Bobrovsky]. That’s how all the good teams at this time of year have success is stand in front of the goalie. So, we’ve got to get better at that. That’s probably the No. 1 thing we’ve got to get better at.”
Panthers were well-rested, but it didn’t matter in Game 1
After defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games — the first time the Panthers have ever won the Battle of Florida — the team had a full week off ahead of Game 1 against a Bruins team that just finished a gruelling seven-game series.
But that meant nothing on Monday, and Boston looked like the better team for most of the contest.
“We weren’t great tonight,” Cats head coach Paul Maurice admitted, per Gulitti. “I don’t know that the game was exactly like the score. It doesn’t really matter. They played well. They looked like they were in a little bit of a rhythm. I thought they played a very patient game. So, good for them. Not so good for us. That’s why it’s a never-ending learning process for you to continue to kind of cement the things that you need to. I didn’t care for our game. I think we can fix a big chunk of the things we did wrong.”
“They’re in a bit of a rhythm and we had a week off, but I thought that they played well,” echoed Florida forward Kyle Okposo, who was brought over from the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline. “It seems like they played to their game plan and were sharp and we just had a few too many breakdowns tonight and they capitalized on them.”
The main problem from the Panthers perspective is Swayman, who was masterful against the Leafs and looked again like a top-flight NHL goaltender in Game 1. He stopped 38 of the 39 stops he faced, while Sergei Bobrovsky made just 24 saves on 28 shots.
The consensus is that the Panthers need to be much better in Game 2, especially as the Bruins look to be in a groove — and are hungry for revenge after last season’s heartbreaking Game 7 loss.
Game 2 between the Atlantic Division juggernauts is set for just past 7:30 p.m. ET in South Beach on Wednesday.
