Panthers foiled by turnovers, power play in Game 1 loss to Bruins

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers will review the video, but most of what went wrong in their 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday was obvious.

From their repeated defensive-zone turnovers to lost coverages, failing to score on three power plays and not doing enough to make life difficult for Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman (38 saves), the Panthers have a lot to correct to rebound in Game 2 of the best-of-7 series here on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

“We weren’t great tonight,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I don’t know that the game was exactly like the score. It doesn’t really matter. They played well. They looked like they were in a little bit of a rhythm. I thought they played a very patient game. So, good for them. Not so good for us.”

The Panthers looked little like the crisp, dominant team that overran the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With a week off after closing out that series with a 6-1 win in Game 5 on April 29, Florida wasn’t nearly as sharp.

On the other hand, the Bruins rode an emotional high after advancing with a 2-1 overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of their first-round series on Saturday.

“They’re in a bit of a rhythm and we had a week off, but I thought that they played well,” Panthers forward Kyle Okposo said. “It seems like they played to their game plan and were sharp and we just had a few too many breakdowns tonight and they capitalized on them.”

The Panthers started well, creating turnovers with their forecheck and taking the first five shots on goal of the game. But the Bruins found their footing as the first period progressed and began to pressure the Panthers into turnovers in their own end.

Thanks to goalie Sergei Bobrovsky making 14 saves, the Panthers got out of the first period unscathed and converted on a turnover by a Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy to take a 1-0 lead on Matthew Tkachuk’s goal at 11:45 of the second. But the Panthers’ sloppiness caught up to them after that with the Bruins scoring on three consecutive shots in a span of 6:47 to take a 3-1 lead.

Morgan Geekie tied it for Boston with a rebound goal at 12:52 after David Pastrnak intercepted defenseman Aaron Ekblad’s bank pass off the boards.

The Panthers had a chance to retake the lead when the Bruins were called for too many men at 13:53 but couldn’t convert on the resulting power play. Then, Geekie pressured Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling into an errant pass out of the left corner that led to defenseman Mason Lohrei’s goal from the left circle that gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 16:17.

“Obviously, they’re a good team, so they’re going to push back and that’s what they did right after our goal,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “They pushed back, they got a couple goals and then we got chasing a little bit and kind of broke there.”

The backbreaker was defenseman Brandon Carlo’s goal from the top of the right circle that made it 3-1 with 21 seconds remaining in the second period after Florida lost coverage defending a rush.

“We gave up seven shots in that period. They put three of them in,” Maurice said. “It’s not Sergei. Two of them we didn’t break the puck out. The third one we got a little bad read off a rush off a play that should get killed fairly easily.”

Florida made a push to begin the third period, outshooting Boston 11-1 before Justin Brazeau’s breakaway goal at 7:13 make it 4-1. Swayman, who hasn’t allowed more than two goals in any of his seven starts in the playoffs, made 16 saves in the third period alone, but the Panthers felt they didn’t do enough to test him.

“We had a couple of good looks, but against some of the better goalies in the League, you’ve got to get right in front of them,” Tkachuk said. “We were off to the side and maybe looking for plays backdoor, maybe just putting our stick in front of him. You’ve got to stand right in front of him. That’s what they did to ‘Bob.’ That’s how all the good teams at this time of year have success is stand in front of the goalie.

“So, we’ve got to get better at that. That’s probably the No. 1 thing we’ve got to get better at.”

The Panthers didn’t blame any of their sloppiness on rust from their week layoff but expect to play better in Game 2.

“That’s why it’s a never-ending learning process for you to continue to kind of cement the things that you need to,” Maurice said. “I didn’t care for our game. I think we can fix a big chunk of the things we did wrong.”