SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers will try to even the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Boston Bruins with a win in Game 2 of the best-of-7 series at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday.
John Beecher — Jesper Boqvist — Pat Maroon
Out of commission: Sam Bennett (upper body).
Linus Ullmark
In Game 1, the Panthers improved their passing and took four shots on goal during their third power play. However, they aim to make faster decisions against the Bruins’ strong penalty kill unit, which has a 95.8 percent success rate of 23 out of 24 attempts in the playoffs.
The Boston team is seeking to enhance their power play performance after failing to score in two opportunities during Game 1, bringing their total to 0-for-6 in their last four games.
The Bruins have demonstrated their resilience in the playoffs by quickly responding to opponent’s goals. This was showcased in Game 7 of the first round when they counteracted William Nylander’s goal in the third period with a goal from defenseman Hampus Lindholm only 1 minute and 21 seconds later. The same happened in Game 1, with the Florida Panthers scoring at 11:45 in the second period and the Bruins answering back just 1 minute and 7 seconds later with a goal from center Morgan Geekie.
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Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Dmitry Kulikov
The players Pavel Zacha, Morgan Geekie, and David Pastrnak.
And each time, it was an immediate momentum killer; as soon as the Maple Leafs and Panthers thought they had the upper hand, it was a crushing blow to get it snatched away that quickly.
2. Rebounding quickly
Reword: J
“Boston successfully prevented Florida from scoring on all three of their power play opportunities in Game 1, having previously gone 11-for-11 on the penalty kill against their Atlantic Division rival during the regular season and coming out victorious in all four meetings.”
Anthony Stolarz
3. Power-play execution
Carter Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov, and Matthew Tkachuk.
Not able to play: Danton Heinen (unknown injury), Andrew Peeke (upper body injury)
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
The Boston team was able to score five goals in a row, leading them to a 5-1 victory in Game 1 on Monday. In order to improve, the Florida team must address their errors and strive for a win on their home turf before facing Boston for Games 3 and 4.
Bruins projected lineup
Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell, and Sam Reinhart are all hockey players.
“We need to improve on our execution,” stated Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery. “Additionally, we must be more physical, start strong, and focus on playing a north-south game. Our main concern is our own performance, but we are aware of the fact that our opponents will also bring their best.”
Sergei Bobrovsky
The Bruins defeated the Panthers 3-1 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs first round last season. However, the Panthers bounced back with a 6-3 victory in Game 2 and went on to win the series in seven games. Boston anticipates a stronger performance from Florida on Wednesday and understands the need to match it.
Nick Cousins — Steven Lorentz — Kyle Okposo
In Game 2, Florida aims to replicate their success against Boston’s goalie Jeremy Swayman. Swayman has been performing exceptionally well in the playoffs, only allowing two goals or less in all seven games he has played. He also had an impressive performance in Game 1, stopping 38 out of 39 shots. However, the Panthers are confident that they can challenge Swayman by not giving him easy opportunities to save their shots.
Boqvist will be back at center for Boston’s fourth line for Game 2, after being replaced by Brown in Game 1. According to Montgomery, Boqvist was dealing with some injuries but is now cleared to play. Heinen, a center, and Peeke, a defenseman, both skated prior to Wednesday morning’s game but are still unable to play. The Panthers will have the same starting lineup as their 5-1 loss in Game 1. Bennett is expected to make a comeback in Games 3 and 4 in Boston after being out for two weeks due to an injury he sustained against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.
Derek Forbort — Parker Wotherspoon
Out of all the Stanley Cup Playoff series in which a team has a 2-0 lead, 86.2% of those teams have gone on to win the series, including a 3-1 record in this season’s first round.
Marchand, Coyle, and DeBrusk make up a trio.
“We were not performing at our usual pace,” said Kevin Stenlund, center for Florida. “Our overall performance was lacking. But if we can improve our precision, we can make it happen.”
Panthers projected lineup
Scratched: Kevin Shattenkirk, Jakub Lauko, Michael DiPietro, Matt Grzelcyk, Patrick Brown
Amalie Benjamin, a writer for NHL.com, also contributed to this report.
Jeremy Swayman
Evan Rodrigues — Kevin Stenlund — Vladimir Tarasenko
Scratched: Ryan Lomberg, Tobias Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich, Spencer Knight, Rasmus Asplund, Mike Benning, Magnus Hellberg, Matt Kiersted, Will Lockwood, Mackie Samoskevich, Justin Sourdif
“Our team has a specific method in place for handling both wins and losses in a game,” stated Panthers coach Paul Maurice. “We review our performance and highlight the aspects that were successful, as well as areas we need to improve on. Yesterday, we assessed the aspects we were not pleased with and will be keeping them in mind before tonight’s game. It’s important to continually learn and progress as a team.”
Niko Mikkola — Brandon Montour
During Game 1, the Bruins were able to defeat Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky by scoring three goals in a span of 6:47 during the second period. This transformed their 1-0 disadvantage into a 3-1 advantage. The third goal was scored by defenseman Brandon Carlo with only 21 seconds left in the period, after being assisted by forward Brad Marchand and Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad in front of the net.
“I believe we had opportunities, but there is room for improvement when playing against him,” expressed Anton Lundell, center for Florida. “For a goalie, it’s difficult to block a shot if they cannot see the puck, so it’s essential to position ourselves in front of him and create challenges.”
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
“Matchup between Mason Lohrei and Charlie McAvoy”
Status report
Here are three tools for the second round of the game.
“One of those situations where I could sense while on the bench, ‘This won’t get me down, nor anyone else. This is not enough to defeat us tonight.’ And true enough, we were able to recover. We’ve faced tough challenges before and we’ve handled them successfully. Our team’s spirit remained strong on the bench, and I immediately tried to focus on positivity, knowing that this won’t bring us down.”
