Bruins show up late, drop Game 3 to Panthers, 6-2

Bruins show up late, drop Game 3 to Panthers, 6-2

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Bruins fans showed up at the Garden on Friday looking for their team to exact some old school vengeance on the Florida Panthers after some cheap shots were thrown in the Panthers’ lopsided win in Game 2.

The B’s, however, were not ready for the moment. And when they finally woke up, it was too late.

The Panthers, far quicker to the puck than the B’s in the first two periods and playing their forechecking game to perfection, raced out to a 4-0 lead and withstood a Bruin rally in the third period for a 6-2 victory in Game 3.

To make matters worse, the B’s lost Brad Marchand, who was wobbled in the first period on a hit from Sam Bennett, playing his first game of the series. Marchand was looked at on the bench and stayed in the game but did not come out for the third period. There was no immediate update on him.

The Bruins had three shots on net after the first period and just eight after 40 minutes in a start that was reminiscent of their anemic starts in Games 5 and 6 against Toronto. Coach Jim Montgomery took the heat for his players.

“We’ve had a couple of games where we started slow and didn’t generate much offense,” said Montgomery. “We’ve got to get better. I have to give the players a better plan, you know? Florida was significantly better than us and I’ve got to come up with a better game plan.”

On the scoresheet, the B’s were charged with only six giveaways, but it felt like they had that many in the first period alone. Sometimes they coughed up the puck under pressure, sometimes they just they made it easy on the Panthers, handing it right to their men at the blue line. It was the same story in last year’s series.

How do the B’s counteract the forecheck?

“I think it just comes down to winning more battles,” said defenseman Brandon Carlo. “From our standpoint, getting to the pucks first as defensemen, moving it to our guys as fast as possible and winning your one-on-one battles. They’re on top of us a lot, getting good sticks on pucks. That’s one of their strong suits. So we’ve got to work our way around that. And I think we can.”

And the B’s penalty kill, so strong through the first nine games of the playoffs, cracked in a big way. They allowed four power-play goals, including two on a double minor high-sticking penalty to Mason Lohrei late in the second period that put the Panthers in the driver’s seat.

“We definitely need to be better at the net front, myself especially,” said Carlo. “There were some problems there. They created some zone time when we didn’t get our clears. You want to get the puck down 200 feet when you can, but we’ll look at the video and try and learn from there.”

Florida dominated the opening 20 minute, outshooting the B’s 13-3 and coming away with a 1-0 lead.

The B’s got called for the first penalty of the game on a ticky-tack holding call on Pavel Zacha. They killed that off, but when Zacha came out of the box, he promptly turned the puck over on an ill-advised backhand pass into the middle of the ice that didn’t connect with his target. The Panthers maintained control and Gustav Forsling flipped a puck toward the net that popped in the air. From the top of the crease, Evan Rodrigues batted it home past Jeremy Swayman at 8:04.

The B’s also took the second penalty of the game when, after the puck was far gone, Morgan Geekie hammered Sasha Barkov into the boards and was rightly whistled for interference. The B’s again killed it off and made it into the first intermission down by just a goal.

It would not be the case after two periods.

The B’s looked like they were slowly warming up in the second period, spurred on by a great Swayman glove save on Rodrigues on a 2-on-1.

They got their first power play, which they did nothing with, but then they started to get a few chances. Their best one came when Geekie deflected a shot and dribbled just wide of the cage. But with the building finally buzzing,  Lohrei was tagged with the disastrous double minor on Steven Lorentz.

On the first half of the double minor, the B’s did not get the puck out once before Vladimir Tarasenko sniped a wrist shot over Swayman’s shoulder at 16:14, with 23 seconds left on the first minor.

Then the Panthers put the hammer down on the next minor, making it 3-0 a minute after the Tarasenko goal when, from the top of the crease, Carter Verhaeghe redirected a beautiful Matthew Tkachuk pass.

With all the life drained from the building to start the third period, the Panthers added a third power-play goal after Jakub Lauko was called for goalie interference after Aaron Ekblad clearly ran him into Sergei Bobrovsky. It was a truly awful call, and coach Jim Montgomery gave it to the refs from the bench. It felt like a call that was made to avoid the late-game nastiness of Game 2.

“I felt that the defenseman was holding me and kind of pushing me inside. I don’t know. What am I supposed to do to avoid it?” said Lauko.

On the advantage, Brandon Montour scored from the blue line on what appeared to be a flash screen by John Beecher at 3:09. That was the Panthers 10th straight goal in two games.

The B’s finally got on the board at 5:01 when, on a delayed penalty call, Lauko beat Bobrovsky from the left circle. Jake DeBrusk got the B’s back to within two at 8:31 when he took a Lohrei feed and ripped a wrist shot past Bobrovsky’s glove to make it 4-2.

The building was rocking when the B’s got a power play at 11:24 and they had several great chances, a couple by Justin Brazeau and another by David Pastrnak.

But they could not get any closer. The hole the B’s had dug for themselves was far too deep for a happy ending on this night. Sam Reinhart all but ended it with an empty-netter with 1:24 remaining and Rodrigues scored a garbage time call.

The loss left the B’s with some questions for Sunday’s crucial Game 4. How will they replace Marchand, if it comes to that? Not that Swayman has been bad in either of the losses, but would a goalie change shift the vibe for this team?

But the answers to those questions won’t matter if the B’s allow the Panthers to dictate the play like they did in the first 40 minutes.

Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) is helped off the ice after being hit at the Bruins take on the Panthers in game 3 of the second round of NHL playoffs at the Garden on May 10. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) is helped off the ice after being hit at the Bruins take on the Panthers in game 3 of the second round of NHL playoffs at the Garden on May 10. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)

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