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An ugly defensive performance by the Boston Bruins caused them to lose Game 2 of their first-round series against the Florida Panthers, evening up the series 1-1 as it heads to South Florida.
“The turnovers we had tonight were catastrophic,” Jim Montgomery said following the loss.
Linus Ullmark was hardly the issue, but couldn’t continually bail out his teammates like he has so many times this season. The Vezina Trophy favorite allowed a season-high five goals on 30 shots faced.
After a relatively choppy first period, the Panthers got on the board first. Sam Bennett capitalized off the Bruins’ turnover-filled shift to open the scoring.
Brad Marchand, did his best to drag the Bruins back into the fight, tying the contest at 1-1 on a shorthanded tally created from Tomas Nosek’s forecheck on Anthony Duclair.
The Panthers answered back just 2:05 later as Eric Staal buried a wrister past Ullmark after the Bruins gave him ample time to skate into the high slot.
The Bruins continued to use special teams to their advantage late in the second period, once again providing a counter to Florida’s even-strength tally. Tyler Bertuzzi continued to find success at the front of the net, deflecting in Pavel Zacha’s shot from the right circle to even things up at 2-2 heading into the second intermission.
Florida re-established its lead just 22 seconds into the third after Brandon Montour’s point shot surprised Ullmark for the go-ahead marker.
Boston’s sloppy defensive play continued to kill them in the third. Carter Verhaeghe provided an insurance marker, capitalizing off of another defensive zone turnover by the Bruins.
“They were a little hungrier than us in a way,” Hampus Lindholm said. “I think we just have to clean that up.”
Montour lit the lamp once again from the point, making it a 5-2 contest. Eetu Luostarinen added an empty netter to round out the six-pack.
