Normally, a team wouldn’t get too concerned about falling behind its opponent 1-0 in the first period; especially a squad as talented as the Florida Panthers.
But the Panthers — already down 1-0 in their series versus the Boston Bruins after losing Game 1 on home ice — had to know the margin for error when you’re facing Jeremy Swayman is slimmer than some of those beach bods in South Florida.
So credit the Cats, in a game they had to have, for figuring out a way to get to Swayman on a level nobody else has in this post-season. Entering Tuesday night’s game in Sunrise, Swayman had allowed two or fewer goals in each of his seven playoff starts. That changed, though, in Florida’s resounding 6-1 series-evening victory in Game 2.
In fact, Swayman’s night ended early when Florida’s fourth goal went in 1:28 into the third period and Boston coach Jim Montgomery — probably to give Swayman some rest and himself some time to unload F-bombs on his plodding team, as much as anything — pulled the MVP of the playoffs so far to get Linus Ullmark some work.
Swayman, no doubt, will be back in the twine when the series shifts to Boston for Game 3 on Friday night. Before we get there, though, here are some takeaways from Florida’s critical Game 2 victory, which marked its first win over Boston this year in six tries.
Cats muck it up
At their best, the Panthers are a pain to play against. And the biggest ache of all, Matthew Tkachuk, showed early on Florida would be bringing the nasty by bumping Swayman post-whistle and triggering a scrum that led to a roughing penalty being called against Boston’s Justin Brazeau just 17 seconds into the game.
The Panthers knew they may have to make it ugly to get anything past Swayman, who’s been stopping everything he can see this spring. After falling behind 1-0 in the opening period, Florida tied the game 1:56 into the middle frame when fourth-liner Steve Lorentz went to the net after a Boston giveaway and tipped a Brandon Montour shot past Swayman.
At the midway point of the second, on the goal that gave Florida the lead for good, Kyle Okposo started the play by pasting Boston D-man Charlie McAvoy to the boards and forcing a turnover. The puck swung out to Sam Reinhart for a clean look and when Swayman stopped that, Aleksander Barkov fought off McAvoy to get to the loose puck and deposit the rebound.
By the last half of the third period — with the game out of reach — things were boiling over. Serious scrums broke out after play stoppages, including following Florida’s sixth tally. By the time David Pastrnak (yep) and Tkachuk were chucking knuckles, it was abundantly clear to anybody watching this series had become the hate-fest it was probably always destined to be.
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Barkov a Beast
In a game his team had to have, Florida captain Aleksander Barkov was the best skater on the ice. The big Finn’s second-period tally was one of four points he potted on the night as he dominated in all aspects of the game and led by example. His second goal of the contest — which put Florida up 5-1 in the third — also busted the power play slump the Panthers had been in. Entering the night, the Cats had gone 1-for-9 in their past four games on the man advantage and failed to convert their first four opportunities in Game 2 before Barkov snapped a beauty home from the slot. (Florida had also gone 0-for-18 on the man advantage versus Boston this entire season before Barkov’s snipe).
Florida needed its captain and he delivered.
Speaking of Penalties…
Late in the second period, still trailing by only one goal, Boston got mixed up and nailed by the officials for having too many men on the ice. Somehow, this was the fifth time this post-season the Bruins have been called for having an excess of bodies on the ice. At the time, the score for too many men infractions in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs was Boston 5, Rest of the League 4. However, the Vancouver Canucks evened things up early in their contest with the Edmonton Oilers thanks to a botched line change.
This puzzling trend is something the B’s need to end immediately.
Top Florida D-men shine
Despite the lopsided final score, this game was setting up for a nail-biter of a third with Florida leading 2-1 on the cusp of the second-period horn sounding. At 19:58 of the frame, though, Gus Forsling unloaded a one-timer from the blueline that beat a screened Swayman.
Forsling and partner Aaron Ekblad both picked up a point on the night, as the former led the Cats in ice (24:36) with the latter right behind (24:06). It was a nice bounce-back game for everyone on Florida, including a top defence pair that didn’t have its best outing in Game 1.
