Bruins Postgame: Panthers Roar Back, Beat Bruins 6-1 In Game 2

The Florida Panthers answered the bell in a big way with a dominating 6-1 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 2.

As expected, the adrenaline high of the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of their first-round series ran out, and the Boston Bruins came crashing down to earth in the second period after taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The Bruins were out-shot 26-9 and outscored 6-0 in the final two periods, and this second-round series between these two Atlantic Division rivals now heads back to Boston tied at one game apiece.

Panthers captain Sasha Barkov had two goals and two assists; forward Sam Reinhart had four assists, and defenseman Brandon Montour finished with a goal and two assists. Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 13 of 14 shots from the Bruins.

Forward Charlie Coyle had the lone goal for the Bruins. Jeremy Swayman allowed four goals on 23 shots before being pulled and replaced with Linus Ullmark, who allowed two goals on ten shots.

Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Bruins Postgame:

CLUTCH: Florida Panthers fans and some around the NHL consider him the next Patrice Bergeron, and in Game 2, Panthers captain Sasha Barkov showed everyone why. Barkov was his usual 200-foot game master and was the best player on the ice. The 28-year-old Selke Trophy Finalist had two goals, two assists, four shots, and nine hits. He also went 8-3 at the faceoff dot. Bruins fans may not want to admit it, but if not for Bergeron, Barkov has at least three Selke Trophies already.

Sasha Barkov strikes again! 🙌 #StanleyCup

🇺🇸: @espn ➡️ https://t.co/Pp9X7OGP3W
🇨🇦: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/sEijvXhbA1 pic.twitter.com/uTEXGpW26B

— NHL (@NHL) May 9, 2024

DOGHOUSE: This puck scribe has been and still is a massive fan of Charlie McAvoy. Not because I cheer for the Bruins or am a fanboy, but because I love hockey, and McAvoy is a hell of a hockey player. I like to compare him to his childhood idol, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, and my co-host on the Eye Test, Pierre McGuire, thinks McAvoy has a lot of hall of famer Chris Chelios in him. That potential is there, but right now, McAvoy’s game is far from either of those legendary defensemen. McAvoy, for whatever reason, has decided to just do whatever he feels like, whenever he feels like it. The 26-year-old alternate captain is going for hits when he should be going for the puck, and he has lost the trademark structure of his trademark physical, two-way game. McAvoy was a minus 2 with three turnovers and needs to find his game fast if the Bruins are going to upset the Panthers in this series.

BANGER: The Bruins (70) and Panthers (76) combined for 140 hits in Game 2. Barkov led all skaters with nine hits, and Bruins captain Bard Marchand led the Bruins with eight.

UNSUNG HERO: Some may call me a homer or crazy, and to those who do, you don’t read me if you call me the former, but I’ll admit to the latter. That being said, my unsung hero, despite him getting no points and no shots, Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak is the unsung hero. Pastrnak standing up to Matthew Tkachuk, who got under the collective skin of the Bruins, was precisely what this team needed coming out of a blowout loss. At what point do too many in Boston stop calling him soft? He proved you wrong once again.

It’s hard to overstate just how dirty these extra cheap shots were by Matthew Tkachuk on David Pastrnak. Embarrassing to put on video by the Panthers forward.

There won’t be a call from Player Safety obviously but this is DIRTY pic.twitter.com/1N968gqv8F

— Boston Bruins Watcher (@WatcherBruins) May 9, 2024

Series Schedule:

Game 1: Bruins 5 Panthers 1
Game 2: Panthers 6 Bruins 1
Game 3: Panthers at Bruins — May 10, 7 p.m. ET (TNT, MAX, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS)
Game 4: Panthers at Bruins — May 12, 6:30 p.m. ET (TBS, MAX, truTV, SN, TVAS)
Game 5: Bruins at Panthers — May 14, TBD
+ Game 6: Panthers at Bruins — May 17, TBD
+ Game 7: Bruins at Panthers — May 19, TBD

Boston Bruins Lineup

Forwards

Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Jake DeBrusk

Pavel Zacha – Morgan Geekie – David Pastrnak

James van Riemsdyk – Trent Frederic – Justin Brazeau

John Beecher – Jesper Boqvist – Pat Maroon

Defensemen

Mason Lohrei – Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort – Parker Wotherspoon

Goalies

Jeremy Swayman

Linus Ullmark