Just 1:17 later, Morgan Geekie buried a rebound for Boston to make it 1-1 at 12:52.
Not long after killing off a power play for the Panthers, the Bruins took the lead when Mason Lohrei roofed a shot over Bobrovsky’s right shoulder and into the top of the twine from the bottom of the left circle to make it 2-1 at 16:17 with the first playoff goal of his NHL career.
Falling into a deeper hole before the intermission, the Panthers fell behind 3-1 when Brandon Carlo fired a shot off the crossbar and in with 20.6 seconds left in the period.
“I didn’t think it started poorly for us,” Maurice said. “I liked our start. I thought as we got through it and got in the second, the 2-1 goal, we started to do some unusual things. That’s why it’s a never-ending learning process to continually cement the things you need to do to be good. I didn’t care for our game. I think we can fix a big chunk of the things we didn’t like.”
Despite the Panthers making a strong push early in the third period -- a charge kept in check by some key saves from Swayman -- it was the Bruins that once again found the back of the net when Justin Brazeau buried a backhander on a partial breakaway to make it 4-1 at 7:13.
Giving up fewer than two goals in all seven of his appearances so far in this year’s playoffs, Swayman turned aside 38 of 39 shots in Game 1, including making nine high-danger saves.
In order to make crack Boston’s red-hot goalie, the Panthers know they'll have to get to the net more.
“We’ve just got to work harder,” Barkov said. “Not just offensively, we’ve got to work harder in all parts. We’ve got to get to the net a little more and make his life uncomfortable a little more. We’ll keep working.”
With 3:22 left in regulation, Jake DeBrusk added an empty-net goal to put the Bruins up 5-1.
In defeat, Florida led 30-21 in scoring chances at 5-on-5.
All eyes are now on Game 2.
“We’re in the series,” Barkov said.
THEY SAID IT
“There were some mistakes out there with some puck play and decision making, but we’ll change that for next game.” – Matthew Tkachuk
“I thought they made some plays. I thought they were pretty hard. They capitalized on their opportunities. We had a couple breakdowns. You have to give them credit, they played well.” – Kyle Okposo
“We had a lot of shots, but [Jeremy Swayman] saw most of them. He’s a good goalie. He’s going to stop it if he sees the puck. We need to work more to get in front of him.” – Aleksander Barkov
CATS STATS
- The Panthers led 66-46 in shot attempts at 5-on-5.
- The Panthers won 58.7% of their faceoffs.
- The Panthers went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play.
- The Bruins led 26-11 in blocked shots.
- Aleksander Barkov won a team-high 19 faceoffs.
- Sixteen different Panthers recorded multiple hits.
- Gustav Forsling blocked a team-high three shots.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Panthers will look to even the series when they return to the ice to host the Bruins for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday.
With puck drop slated for 7:30 p.m. ET, fans can secure tickets by clicking here.
