Florida Panthers fail to close out Bruins, head back to Boston for Game 6

SUNRISE — The Boston Bruins staved off elimination, defeating the Florida Panthers 2-1 to cut their second-round series deficit to 3-2.

Morgan Geekie got things started for the Bruins, scoring 4:49 into the first period with the Panthers hemmed in their own zone. That ended up being the story of the opening frame, with Boston outshooting Florida 13-4.

Sam Reinhart tied things up with by picking up the rebound of an Aaron Ekblad shot and putting it past Jeremy Swayman 6:23 into the second period. But Charlie McAvoy answered back 4:02 later to restore the Boston lead.

Florida challenged the play for goaltender interference, but it was ruled that Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was responsible for initiating the contact with Sergei Bobrovsky before McAvoy wired a shot from the point past him.

The Panthers could not dig their way out of it, ending up fruitless in the third period despite getting two opportunities on the power play.

”It was the start,” Reinhart said. “They were on pucks quicker than we were. We were able to find our game in the second but couldn’t convert on some of our chances.”

Here are three takeaways of Game 1 of the second-round series between the Panthers and Bruins:

First period hole too big

The Panthers came out extremely flat in the first period, getting outshot 13-4 while generating just four scoring chances and zero high-danger chances. Their passes were sloppy, they weren’t putting any pressure on the forecheck and they were hemmed in their own zone.

Reinhart’s tying goal helped stabilize things for a bit, but they went right back to chasing the game once McAvoy answered and the sloppy play continued.

“They were real fast and I thought we were trying to move the puck a certain way that didn’t suit our style of game,” coach Paul Maurice said. “They had a good first period.”

Power play stuck in a lull

Florida got four opportunities on the power play and they could not generate much on anything.

Sure, they got a few good looks. A lot of them where they missed the net. But they couldn’t’ hack it because their puck movement was sloppy and rushed while they were not getting enough bodies to the front of the net. For the most part, Swayman looked unbothered when they had the man advantage.

“We just need to simplify,” Reinhart said. “That way we aren’t looking for the perfect play as much. We need to be a little quicker, a little more decisive with the puck adn we’ll be okay.”

Second line completely shut down

For the past two games, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaege have been big drivers for the Panthers when it came to offensive pressure. They looked a lot more passive on Tuesday night and it showed.

All three of them were a minus-2 and were often hemmed in their own end or settling for perimeter shots. And the rest of the team followed suit.

“I didn’t think their line was great because they would be in some ways an identity line for us in that we do a handful of things really well and as long as they do them right, everything falls into place,” Maurice said. “I didn’t think anything fell into place for them tonight. They are just falling behind and it’s a tough one.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Panthers: Bruins stave off elimination in Sunrise to force Game 6