Sam Bennett’s return transforms Panthers-Bruins series. His play in Game 2 proved it

The Florida Panthers hollered and cheered when Sam Bennett skated around the ice for their morning skate Wednesday at TD Garden, finally with his omnipresent yellow, noncontact jersey swapped out for the standard white.

It meant the center — the anchor of their high-powered second line — was ready to return from a 13-game injury absence, and the Panthers were reinvigorated. They knew they needed all the help the could get to upset the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs and Bennett’s return made them whole again for the first time in a month. A series-altering 6-3 win was soon to follow.

“He’s a dangerous player, especially in the playoffs,” star defenseman Brandon Montour said Wednesday.

Bennett, 26, wasted no time to remind the Bruins of just what he’s going to bring to this first-round series. In the first 30 seconds, he landed a crunching check on Boston center Tomas Nosek behind the Bruins’ net, and it wound up being the least of his contributions to Florida’s stunning dismantling of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins.

On the first 5-on-5 shift of the second period, Bennett scored the first goal to put the Panthers up 1-0, and they never trailed, taking on a bit of the Canadian forward’s relentless, chaos-sowing style of play. He fired seven shots at All-Star goaltender Linus Ullmark, landed three hits and posted a plus-minus of plus-2, on the ice for his own goal and left wing Carter Verhaeghe’s in the third period.

After falling behind in the second period of Game 1 in Boston and failing to rally when the Bruins could lean the weight of their depth on Florida, the Panthers turned a 2-2 tie into a 6-2 romp — before a garbage-time goal for Boston — by scoring four times in the third to Stun the Bruins and even the series at 1-1.

“Boston is the deepest team in the league ... but when Bennett came back into our lineup, it put Eric Staal on the fourth line with [Anton] Lundell in the three hole. Our depth improved,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I’m not saying it’s the Boston Bruins’ depth, but our depth improved to the point that we’re a much better structured team.”

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Now, Florida is in control of Round 1 after snatching home-ice advantage from Boston by splitting the first two games in Massachusetts. The Panthers will host the Bruins for Game 3 on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise and now can win the series by just winning their three home games.

With the series now even and Bennett back for Florida, the Panthers’ chances to make Round 2 are up to 50 percent, according to MoneyPuck.com. They have had more expected goals than Boston expected goals in each of the first two games of the series, even after getting outshot the Bruins in Game 2.

Boston is also still waiting on a return of captain Patrice Bergeron, a three-time All-Star center, who missed Game 1 with an illness and Game 2 with an injury. For the time being, Florida has the edge in terms of health, and it has cut into the Bruins’ depth advantage.

Even without this discrepancy, Bennett’s return is a major boon for the Panthers, and not just because of what he can do statistically and for the depth of the lineup.

The Panthers gave Bennett’s line the starting nod Wednesday, only they paired him with superstar right wing Matthew Tkachuk and forward Eetu Luostarinen — not quite the same line he was playing with before he sustained a soft-tissue injury last month.

“I feel like I’m back into it now,” Bennett told Bally Sports Florida at the first intermission Wednesday and it got even better quickly.

Maurice reshuffled his lines to start the second period. For the first 5-on-5 shift of the second period, the first-year coach sent out left wing Carter Verhaeghe to play with Bennett and Tkachuk, and they immediately put Florida up 1-0.

Their shift lasted 50 seconds as the Panthers denied multiple clearing attempts, and finally Tkachuk intercepted a pass near the blue line and hit Bennett behind the defense for a go-ahead goal with 18:18 left in the second period.

It was a classic Bennett goal, too: He drove so hard to the net he actually wound up dislodging it after he beat Ullmark and his momentum carried him into the goal as he celebrated.

“It felt great,” he said. “It’s always tough when you’re out for a while and it was tough watching Game 1 from the press box, but it definitely felt great to get right back in.”

Although Bennett didn’t notch another point, his linemates did. With 13 minutes left in the game, Verhaeghe put the Panthers up 4-2 on another assist by Tkachuk and it pushed Boston out of reach.

In the 7:21 the Verhaeghe-Bennett-Tkachuk line was on the ice, Florida doubled up the Bruins in scoring chances and outscored Boston, 2-0. In the 12:16 of 5-on-5 action Bennett played, the Panthers outshot the Bruins, 11-5, with a 9-2 edge in scoring chances and 6-1 advantage in high-danger chances.

“Matthew Tkachuk’s had a career year, Luostarinen’s had a career year, Verhaeghe’s had a career year. All three of those guys have played with Sam Bennett for the better part of the year,” Maurice said. “That’s his strength. He drives the play. He plays so damn hard and drives the play. What do they always say about great players? They make players around them better, so Sam is so important to us this year.”