Bruins 1 – Panthers 6 | The Bruins suffocated by the Panthers

The Boston Bruins are playing patience on the ice. They stay in a pack and wait for the opponent’s mistakes before counterattacking.

The Florida Panthers, on the other hand, are not waiting for permission to practice an aggressive forecheck. We don’t complicate our lives. We send the puck to the back of the zone and chase it. This is their state of being.

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The Bruins won the first set on Monday. The Panthers caused the tie in this second round series, Wednesday night at home, by being faithful to their way of doing things. They scored three of their first four goals by pressuring Bruins defenders deep in their territory. Their 6-1 victory, after a 5-1 defeat, was clear.

We even managed the feat of chasing goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman, who had been in a state of grace since the start of the playoffs. You don’t beat Swayman by being clever.

From the first moments of the meeting, Matthew Tkachuk hit his shield to show him that he would not be allowed to work at his ease. The Bruins goaltender has not lost his concentration, however.

But the Panthers continued to put a man on the edge of the net, we deflected shots or grabbed returns. Defenseman Gustav Forsling beat Swayman with a shot from the blue line late in the second period, a cruel goal with two seconds left in the period, but this time it was Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy who blocked Swayman’s view. McAvoy had a rare tough match.

Swayman had never started seven games in a row. By removing him from the game after Florida’s fourth goal, while making sure to give him words (most likely comforting) when he arrived at the bench, Jim Montgomery wanted to either give him a period of rest before the next game , or allow Linus Ullmark to shake off a little rust before starting the next match.

The man of big occasions for the Panthers, captain Aleksander Barkov, dominating defensively and offensively, had a great game with four points. Defender Aaron Ekblad, terrible in the first meeting, played a strong match.

The Bruins, however, reacted well to the sustained forecheck of the Panthers in the first portion of the match, thanks to constant support from the attackers, disciplined in withdrawal, and even took the opportunity to take a 1-0 lead. Did the fatigue from a grueling series against Toronto start to make itself felt as the game progressed? Or was this a poor way to respond to the Panthers’ timely line changes at a certain point in the game?

Things got out of hand in the third period. We even saw David Pastrnak, although not known for his pugilistic talents, engage in combat with the pest Matthew Tkachuk. Some will mention it as a show of character and a way of “preparing” for the next match. Can we instead just talk about… frustration?

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery touted the Panthers’ execution in Game 2. Boston won the first meeting by winning the battle of execution in its own style of play. Florida executed plays well in its own way on Wednesday.

Montgomery must return to the table before the next meeting in order to find the strategy to allow his defenders to better escape from the Panthers’ forecheck, which has damned so many teams before them for two years…