Panthers Score Six Unanswered Goals To Beat Bruins in Game Two to Even Series

On Wednesday night at Amerant Bank Arena, the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins squared off in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Bruins exploited their scoring opportunities against the Panthers in Game One, even though they were outshot 39-29, as they carried over momentum from their first-round triumph over the Maple Leafs in Game Seven. After a week-long break before the Boston series began, the Panthers failed to capitalize on their three power play opportunities and failed to find a way past 38 stops from Bruins goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman. However, in Game Two, things would turn around for the Panthers, who beat the Bruins 6-1 after scoring six unanswered goals to become the first team to score three goals or more against Swayman in the playoffs. 

At 12:12 in the first period, the Bruins took the lead 1-0 thanks to a forced turnover that came as the Panthers tried to clear the puck out of their zone. Pavel Zacha crashed the net with the puck and found Charlie Coyle on the left side of the crease, who wrist-shot the puck into the open net due to Sergei Bobrovsky, the Panthers' goalie, having committed to Zacha on the opposite side. Just 1:56 into the second period, a shot from Brandon Montour from the top of the zone would deflect off of Steven Lorentz's stick of the Panthers, go over Swayman's left shoulder, and go under the crossbar to tie the score at 1-1. This would be the Panthers' 37th deflected goal of the season, fourth-most in the NHL. At 9:49 in the second period, Aleksander Barkov rebounded a close-range shot from Sam Reinhart that went past Swayman's right pad to give the Panthers their first lead of the contest, 2-1. The Panthers extended their lead to 3-1 with 1.3 seconds left before the intermission when Gustav Forsling's slap shot from the top of the zone got by Swayman through traffic late in the period. 

At 1:28 of the third period, the Panthers increased their lead to 4-1 after forcing a mistake behind the Bruins' net. Barkov then found Eetu Luostarinen close to the right post, where he wrist-shotted the puck into the goal. Jim Montgomery, the head coach of the Bruins, decided to switch goalies after the Panthers' goal, and Linus Ullmark took over for Swayman in the net. Halfway through the period, the Bruins' Pat Maroon was called for misconduct, and the Panthers would go on their fifth power play of the game. The Panthers would score their first power-play goal of the series at 10:52, only 27 seconds into the man advantage. They would force a mistake at the top of the zone, and Barkov would receive a feed from Reinhart and snap-shot the puck past Ullmark to increase their lead to 5-1. The Panthers would add another goal later in the period, courtesy of a shorthanded goal by Montour on the penalty kill, which would complete the 6-1 victory against the Bruins and tie the series at one. The teams will now play the next two games in Boston, beginning on Friday.