Bruins’ Offense Comes to Life to Steal Game One Against the Panthers
At Amerant Bank Arena on Monday night, the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers kicked off their second-round series against each other. In the regular season, the Bruins swept the regular season series 4-0 with Boston scoring three or more goals in each of those games. However, entering the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the two teams finished their opening round series on different notes. The Bruins had to fend off the Toronto Maple Leafs in a winner-take-all Game Seven on Saturday night after taking a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Maple Leafs but not being able to take them out until Game Seven. Meanwhile, the Panthers quickly dispatched the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games and scored three or more goals in each of the games. After scoring just four goals in their previous three postseason games, the Bruins' offense finally found its rhythm in Game One against the Panthers. The Bruins managed to contain the Panthers' explosive offensive attack and won the game 5-1 thanks to a three-goal second period.
With a combined total of 22 shots and 47 hits in the first period, the Panthers and Bruins wasted little time in setting up scoring opportunities and projecting their dominance on defense. Still, there would be no goals at the end of the first period. In the second period, the Panthers defense forced a turnover in the Bruins' zone at 8:15. Aleksander Barkov then collected the loose puck near the left circle and passed it to Matthew Tkachuk on the other end, who fired the puck past Jeremy Swayman, the Bruins' goalie, and into the net to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. With 7:08 left in the period, Pavel Zacha crashed the net with the puck, forcing Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to make an initial save. However, the puck rebounded out in front, where Morgan Geekie was waiting to strike it over Bobrovsky, who was sprawled out on the ice, and into the net, tying the score at 1-1.
A chipped puck into the Bruins' offensive zone with 3:43 remaining in the second period was gathered by Mason Lohrei near the right circle, who wrist-shot the puck that slipped past Bobrovsky's right shoulder and into the net to give Boston their first lead of the game at 2-1 and their second goal in three minutes. With 20 seconds remaining in the middle period, Charlie Coyle found Brandon Carlo at the top of the zone. Carlo slap-shot puck beside Bobrovsky's left shoulder, hitting the crossbar and rebounding into the net to extend the Bruins' lead to 3-1. With 12:47 left in regulation in the third period, Justin Brazeau of the Bruins received a pass from James van Riemsdyk while he was rushing up the ice for an odd-man rush opportunity. Brazeau then backhanded the puck over Bobrovsky's outstretched right pad to increase the Bruins' lead to 4-1 and score his first-ever playoff goal. When the Panthers pulled Bobrovsky for an extra attacker with 3:22 remaining in the game, Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk corralled the puck in the Boston zone and raced into the offensive zone. DeBrusk buried the puck for the empty-net goal to extend the Bruins' lead to 5-1, securing their victory over the Panthers in Game One to take a 1-0 series lead and gain home-ice advantage heading into Game Two on Wednesday night.
