Recap: Sloppiness turns into a rout as Florida takes Game 2, 6-1

It wasn’t close, but the chaos at the end was kind of fun.

In Game 1, the Bruins went down a goal before storming back with five of their own.

In Game 2, the Panthers flipped the script, spotting the Bruins a 1-0 lead before a three-goal third turned the game on its head.

Florida would add three more in a third period that quickly spiraled out of control en route to a 6-1 win, evening the second round series at a game apiece.

Charlie Coyle scored the lone goal for the Bruins, who managed a paltry 15 shots on goal (including just three in the third period).

To the highlights!

Brad Marchand got involved early, laying out Matthew Tkachuk with a huge hit.

A turnover (and quite a leap by Marchand) led to Charlie Coyle cashing in and making it 1-0 Bruins.

We found out that Jeremy Swayman is human after all in the second period, starting with this bold decision by the Bruins to have no one within 100 yards of Steven Lorentz. 1-1 game.

Just about eight minutes later, Aleksandr Barkov would take advantage of a loose puck and a stick-less Charlie McAvoy to make it 2-1 Florida.

The B’s would kill another too many men on the ice penalty late in the third and appeared to be headed to the intermission down a goal, but a bad Marchand turnover led to a buzzer-beater from Gustav Forsling, making it 3-1 Florida.

After what looked like it was going to be an icing call was waved off, the Bruins completely fell apart on defense again and left Eetu Luostarinen open for a tap-in, making it 4-1 Florida early in the third.

That would be the end of the night for Swayman, who saw his super-human run come to an end — though I’d argue through little fault of his own. Jim Montgomery made a point to speak to Swayman after pulling him, likely making that same point.

Shortly thereafter, the chaos began! Things kicked off with Pat Maroon and Nick Cousins each being given a misconduct, with Maroon getting an extra two.

“Surely misconducts will settle things down,” thought the officials.

It didn’t work, as the teams would combine for 114 penalty minutes and ten misconducts after that point.

The most notable of those penalty minutes and misconducts came when David Pastrnak, of all people, decided he’d fight Tkachuk — and appeared to clear it with his coach first.

The Panthers would actually score two more goals at some point (you can use your imagination, they were similar to the other four), but who cares.

4-1, 6-1, it all counts the same, right?

6-1 final, Florida ties the series, 1-1.

Game notes

• The late-game shenanigans certainly took some of the spotlight off of what was a pretty brutal game for the Bruins. I know I said I would limit this when possible, but (forgive me) the second period looked an awful lot like last spring: terrible turnovers at every opportunity and little going on the other way. Whether it was leaving Lorentz completely alone at the top of the crease or failing to bank the puck off the glass at the end of the second period, it was a cascade of mistakes from all areas of the ice.
• It may not have mattered much in the end given the juice Florida seemed to have on the night, but the Bruins missed two huge chances in the first period to extend their lead: Coyle hit the post on one shot and then John Beecher missed a tap-in at the top of the crease.
• The too many men on the ice penalty on the B’s late in the second period marked their fifth such penalty this playoffs. Per Sportsnet, that’s more than the rest of the rest of the playoff teams combined, which…sure is something.
• At one point stretching from the second to the third period, the Bruins went something like 15 minutes of game action without a shot on goal. Their shot to end that stretch was a toss on net from the blue line by Parker Wotherspoon, so…not exactly a high-octane night for the offense.
• I’m not sure if he’s dealing with a minor injury or just in a funky run of play, but Charlie McAvoy doesn’t seem quite right. He made his impact felt physically on a few occasions, but had a tough night handling the puck, with some uncharacteristically sloppy plays.
• The Panthers benefited from being on the power play twice, but they really turned up the heat on the Bruins in that pivotal second period. Their forecheck began to give the B’s trouble again, and they ended up nearly scoring as many goals (three) as the Bruins had shots on goal (six). From that point on, Florida rarely looked troubled.
• Marchand’s assist on the Coyle goal gave him ten points this postseason, the ninth time in his career he’s hit or eclipsed ten points in one postseason. As you can see, he’s in some pretty good company.
• The Tkachuk-Pastrnak fight will generate a lot of the headlines after this game. Tkachuk clearly earned the win in terms of the fight itself, though it’s fair to question the continued punches after Pastrnak was down. Tkachuk apparently asked Pastrnak if he’d fight, and Montgomery said he was “proud” of Pastrnak. Still, you can’t help but ask why your most talented and most dangerous offensive player is the guy answering the bell in a blowout.
• The two teams combined for 146 hits: 70 for the Bruins and 76 for the Panthers.
• I know plus-minus is a silly stat, but for some reason this is funny to me: Pavel Zacha somehow emerged from this game as a +1, the only Bruin to be in the black.
• I’m sure others disagree, but the goonery at the end is fine with me. The Panthers and their fans will certainly claim that they’re the innocent victims of bullies and sore losers, but when a guy gets directly in your face to celebrate a goal, you have to do something. Ideally, you don’t allow that goal in the first place, of course, but that didn’t seem to be an option tonight. After a relatively sleepy Game 1 in terms of hatred, that third period was like a pressure cooker for bad feelings. Game 3 should be interesting.

Plenty to ruminate on after that one, eh?

Game 3 is back at TD Garden on Friday night. See you then!