The B’s still can’t figure out Florida.
The Boston Bruins fell to the Florida Panthers, 4-3, on Monday at the TD Garden as a heated contest led to some undisciplined hockey and the B’s second loss to them in a week.
It was another mental and physical contest for the Bruins as the B’s have struggled to figure the Panthers out and have allowed them to get under their skin.
“They’re winning the mental side of the battle on us,” Jim Montgomery said.
“And we can’t lose as many (puck) battles,” he added. “They are the standard in the NHL for winning battles and we’re not up to that level.”
Here are the game’s highlights:
First period:
Mark Kastelic blasted a shot on net which deflected off Johnny Beecher through Sergei Bobrovsky’s five-hole at 4:53 of the first period. 1-0 Bruins.
Anton Lundell stuffed one past Jeremy Swayman’s left skate and the post to get Florida on the board at 6:37 of the first period. 1-1 game.
Things started to get heated after A.J. Greer hit David Pastrnak from behind which caused Pavel Zacha to drop the gloves with him. Shortly after, Charlie McAvoy headed to the box for cross-checking. Five seconds into their power play, Sam Reinhart beat Swayman’s blocker with a wrist shot at 11:51 of the first period. 2-1 Panthers.
Second period:
Brandon Carlo tied the game putting a long wrist shot from the top of the right-wing circle past Bobrovsky at 5:08 of the second period. 2-2 game.
A few minutes later, Pastrnak tried to jab the puck past Bobrovsky on the power play, but came up short. Off the rush, Florida came down the other ice and shorthanded, Reinhart found the loose puck from Jesper Boqvist’s attempt at 9:39 of the second period. 3-2 Panthers.
Lundell then found a hole between Swayman’s pad and blocker after letting go a wrist shot from inside the right-wing circle at 12:59 of the second period. 4-2 Panthers.
The Bruins bounced back when Mason Lohrei walked into the left-wing circle after getting a heads-up pass from Kastelic and sent a wrist shot past Bobrovsky’s stick at 14:07 of the second period. 4-3 game.
Third period:
No goals
Final score: 4-3 Panthers
Game notes
- If there’s a silver lining, it’s the bottom six forwards and more specifically the play of the fourth line. Kastelic, Beecher and Koepke have really built their chemistry these last four games and defined their role. Beecher said postgame that they all have similar styles of play and they are just going on there playing to their strong suit.
- Jim Montgomery said postgame, “They’re just doing their role. Guys in the top six aren’t doing their role.” He was “impressed” with the fourth line’s play as they had a hand in every goal this afternoon. Brad Marchand agreed —“The rest of us need to take a page out of their book and be a lot better,” Marchand said. “They’re definitely carrying the weight right now.”
- Kastelic assisted on each goal — with two primary assists. His shot just hit enough of Beecher to be credited to him. Kastelic’s pass to Lohrei was also so well timed and poised on the third goal.
- Lohrei also continued to find his form, registering a goal and assist tonight.
- The Bruins are still lacking consistent production from their top guys. The fourth line contributed to every goal, with two scored by Bruins’ defensemen. While it’s still only four games in, you want to see some more production from guys like Charlie Coyle and Morgan Geekie (who hasn’t registered a point yet in four games) on the scoresheet.
- It was also another night without a power-play goal as the Bruins were 0 for 4 on the man advantage.
- The Bruins had a hard time sustaining offensive zone time and getting clean entries into the o-zone to really keep coverage going there. And when other teams target Pastrnak, like today, it ends up taking guys out of the mix who defend him. Marchand ended up dropping the gloves twice today and called for roughing both times and Zacha ended up with a fighting major.
- I said it earlier, but the penalties are adding up. The Bruins have taken five or more penalties in every game to open this season. It wasn’t the responses to defend Pastrnak that was the problem tonight — as Pavel Zacha and Brad Marchand both stepped up during the heated game, but the penalties like Charlie McAvoy’s right after that ultimately cost them.
- “I love what Pav did and defended him (Pastrnak), but the penalties after that? That’s just not disciplined,” Montgomery said. “It’s four games that we’ve taken at least four minors. You can’t win hockey games that way.”
- Lundell and Reinhart each scored twice for the Panthers who were playing without Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk due to injury and illness.
- The Bruins will travel to Colorado to face the Avalanche on Wednesday, Oct. 16, for a 9:30 p.m. ET start time.