A rather disastrous Game 1 left a lot to be desired from the Panthers’ playoff game and the opportunity to improve in Game 2. Well, Florida flipped the script quite literally in Game 2 on Wednesday night, with Boston scoring the opening goal in the first period and then the Cats scoring six unanswered goals over the final two periods. Five different players found the back of the net and made Jeremy Swayman, who’s having a fantastic playoff run, seem human. The Panther fourth-line players were noticeable in a good way, putting in multiple hard-working shifts in the offensive zone and getting rewarded with a goal from Lorentz. Tensions boiled over in a big way in the final period, with multiple fights breaking out and enough penalties to fill both penalty boxes to the brim.
Florida Panthers Depth Scoring:
A tight first period ended in an 0-1 lead for Boston who capitalized off another turnover at the blue line and beat Bobrovsky to break the ice. It was a good, quick passing play that got behind the defense and pulled Bob out of the net, leaving it open for Coyle to score. Florida came out as a different team after HC Paul Maurice adjusted the lines back, putting Tarasenko & Reinhart back with Barkov while Tkachuk & Verhaeghe went back with Lundell. In the last half of the period, the Panthers looked more like themselves and took that momentum into the rest of the game. Just under two minutes into the second period, after a great shift in the o-zone from the fourth line, Lorentz tipped in a shot from Montour to tie the game. The hard workers had pulled the defense toward the boards leaving Lorentz all alone in front of the net, Montour saw this and sent one that got tipped into the top corner over Swayman’s shoulder. Barkov got his first goal of the series by burying a rebound that came off a Reinhart shot and his second came in the third period on the power play once again set up by Reinhart. Forsling beat the buzzer with a 92 mph slapshot from the blue line, which gave the Cats a 3-1 lead heading into the final period. The Panthers got their own quick passing goal in the third, with Reinhart and Barkov setting up Luostarinen to send the puck in the back door for the 4-1 lead. Montour got the final goal of the night short-handed. The depth scoring was on full display, showing that the big names like Verhaeghe, Tkachuk, and Reinhart don’t always have to carry the offense.
Panthers Fourth Line Shining:
Even though Lomberg is now available to play, he hasn’t been added back into the lineup because the current fourth line of Cousins–Lorentz–Okposo is working so well. They were noticeable in the Tampa Bay series, putting in good shifts down in the offensive zone and outworking the opposing line. That has carried over into the Boston series, they put in a longer shift in the second period that put stress on the Bruins players and wore them down which allowed things to open up for Barkov’s line which scored to give the Panthers the lead. When things weren’t going offensively for the Cats in the first period, they were the line that was still getting shifts in the Boston zone and creating chances. Their hard work paid off as Lorentz got the first goal for Florida and jump-started the offense for the rest of the game. The team radiated energy and seemed to have an extra gear that got unlocked. Florida is blessed with enough depth players that someone like Lomberg, who was a mainstay during the regular season, isn’t in as the current setup is working so well. We’ll see what happens when Bennett rejoins the lineup and adjusts the centers back down to where they normally are.
148 Penalty Minutes:
This match started off like a normal playoff match, but things descended into utter chaos by the final ten minutes of the third period. Penalties started early, with Brazeau getting called for removing the opponent’s helmet just 17 seconds into the first period. Lundell followed that up by getting called for tripping just before the Florida power play ended, giving a short 4v4. DeBrusk took the final penalty of the period, getting called for tripping eight and a half minutes into the period. Another penalty wasn’t called until midway through the second period; Mikkola got sent to the box for holding. Quickly after that penalty ended Carlo got called for hooking. Once again, things settled down, and no other penalties were called until midway through the third. This was when things went off the rails and the game did its best impression of the Florida/Ottawa game from November. Twelve players in total were thrown out with game misconducts over the final ten minutes of play. Cousins and Maroon were the first two to go, and Maroon got the extra two minutes for roughing. That penalty led to the Florida power play goal from Barkov, and with the game far out of reach for Boston, they started instigating fights. The first one broke out in the Florida end, with everyone but the goalies getting involved. Luostarinen, Kulikov, Frederic, and Brazeau were the next four to get the boot, and with OEL getting an extra penalty for cross-checking, Boston got a power play out of it. The man advantage didn’t benefit them, though, and Montour scored short-handed with his celebration getting into Marchand’s face. Marchand took exception to that and started another fight leading to himself, McAvoy, Reinhart, and Mikkola all getting sent to the locker room. Pastrnak and Tkachuk came to an agreement and dropped gloves off a faceoff and had a one-on-one fight, with both of them getting tossed from the match and five-minute major penalties for fighting. A final slashing penalty from Wotherspoon put the final PIM total at 148 minutes in penalties between the two teams; Boston had 77 PIMs, and Florida had 71 PIMs. It’s only Game 2 of a seven-game series, this could be a one-off, or there could be more fighting down the line in even higher-stakes games. Game 3 is set for 7 pm EST/6 pm CT in Boston.
