BSJ Game Report: Panthers 4, Bruins 2 -- Bring on the Leafs

The 2017-18 regular season came to an end for the Boston Bruins with a 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers Sunday night at TD Garden. It now means absolutely nothing as the Bruins prepare to face the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, beginning 7 p.m. Thursday at TD Garden.

With Sunday's loss, the Bruins finished in second place in the Atlantic Division. In the last five games, Boston was 1-3-1.

"Down the stretch you could start to see us mentally get tired," said coach Bruce Cassidy. "Physically, every team goes through it, the schedule... Every team has difficult parts of it and at the end of the year, you're a little heavy-legged. Mentally, it looked like we were losing some of our passion. ... Thursday, I believe we will be the 50-win team that we saw all year."

It didn't take long for the Bruins to turn the page and start to focus on their next opponent.

"Very tough team," said Bruins' Brad Marchand when asked about the Maple Leafs. "They play very fast with a lot of skilled players. Very high tempo and they never quit. You watch the way they played all year and they battle to the last second and they've won a lot of games in the last minute. They're competitive. They don't shy away from anything. It'll be a good series. They're one of the toughest teams we've played against all year and it'll be a good battle."

BSJ analysis

Never been a big believer that a team can flip the proverbial switch when needed. There have been examples of it from time to time and that’s the case for the current state of the Boston Bruins.

Sure, they missed out on an opportunity to clinch home-ice advantage until the Eastern Conference finals with a 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers in game No. 82 on Sunday at TD Garden, but by the time the locker room was open to the media, the Bruins were already focused on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It’s important for teams to be playing their best hockey down the stretch in hopes it translates once the puck drops on the Stanley Cup playoffs, but that hasn’t been the case for the Bruins in the final week of the regular season. However, if there’s any team that can flip that switch, it’s the Bruins.

The players were already sporting their playoff game faces after Sunday’s loss. With a day off to rest and reset until practice on Tuesday, it’ll be game on for the Bruins. Even Marchand said everything that has happened to this point means nothing.

Sunday's loss, "Doesn’t change anything. It has no effect on how we’re going to play throughout the series. We’ll regroup and it’s a whole new season," he said.

No need to worry that the top line has been struggling to score of late. There's no need to worry that Tuukka Rask hasn't been at his best, either. It's no fluke the Bruins earned 112 points this season. It's not going to go south all of a sudden because of a few poor performances. They're also not about to make excuses, but the team's schedule the last six weeks has been a grind and it started to take a mental toll.

"That’s not an excuse," said David Pastrnak. "Obviously tough schedule for us, but we did what we could. Last couple weeks wasn’t our best, or wasn’t what we would expect, but the season’s over and another part begins. It was tough loss today, but  tomorrow we need to regroup and get ready for the thing we were working for the whole season."

The series against the Maple Leafs should take all seven games to decide a winner. It’s going to be intense, physical and emotional.

Here's the schedule for the first round vs. the  Maple Leafs

Game 1: Thursday at Boston, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday at Boston, 8 p.m.
Game 3: Monday at Toronto, 7 p.m.
Game 4: Thursday at Toronto, 7 p.m.

Game 5: April 21 at Boston, TBD
Game 6: April 23 at Toronto, TBD
Game 7: April 25 at Boston, TBD

"I'm looking forward to it," Cassidy said. "Two Original Six teams. . . we both exited in the first round last year and probably learned some lessons. They've got a great coach (Mike Babcock) that I've always looked up to and try to learn from. Both good goaltenders and it should be a terrific series if both teams are on their game. That's playoff hockey. A lot of speed. A lot of physicality."

Let's just get right into a looking ahead to the Bruins-Leafs series

CHECKLIST

Head-to-head: This is going to be an exciting series between Boston and Toronto. The Bruins were 1-2-1 in four games against the Maple Leafs this season, while Toronto outscored Boston 12-10.

"The game during the year, even though we lost more than we won, I thought we were very competitive and could have easily won," Cassidy said. "We let one get away in the last minute up there early in the year and that's before we really learned how to win and what to do to play winning hockey down the stretch. We're a different team than we were back then."

The Maple Leafs also expect a tremendous series.

"They’ve got a good team, strong team," said the Maple Leafs' Leo Komarov of the Bruins. "They play physical. That’s the way they’ve always played. Kind of nice to play against them too. They play kind of tough hockey. Obviously, hockey is moving toward skill hockey the past couple of years — the game is now really fast. Tough hockey is nice."

Best players need to be best players: The Bruins' top line of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak hasn't been at its best of late, but there are zero concerns. Marchand believes a few days of rest and a chance to hit the reset button is all the top trio needs to regroup. He also knows they have to be at their best if the Bruins have a chance to advance.

"Everyone needs to contribute. Obviously, we need to score, but we need to chip in defensively a little bit better too," Marchand said of his line. "If we're a little bit better (defensively) we'll be a little better offensively and controlling the play a little better than we have. Again, it's a completely different season in the playoffs, so we're not concerned about it. We'll keep moving forward."

Marchand could be seeing a lot of Komarov in this series.

"He’s just a normal guy," Komarov said. "I don’t think he’s going to change anything in terms of the way you play against a really good player, which he is. He likes playing hard and it’s good. I respect him a lot and he’s a great player."

During a game between the teams on Nov. 11, Marchand kissed Komarov on the cheek as a way to agitate him. Safe to say that won't happen during the playoffs.

“Oh man, I don’t know, I’ve got a wife. So I don’t need that," Komarov said.

Rookie class: Prep school is over and now it's time for the young players on the Bruins to experience playoff hockey. The intensity and physicality get ramped up in the spring and mistakes could mean the difference between winning and losing. Rookie defenseman Charlie McAvoy made his NHL debut during the first round last season, so he's prepared for what lies ahead. The others, including Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Matt Grzelcyk, Ryan Donato and, to some extent, Sean Kuraly (four games last postseason) will soon learn how the game changes when the Stanley Cup is on the line.

What's the lesson?

"It's going to be even harder during playoff time," Marchand said. "It's going to be extremely competitive and we have to be ready to sacrifice every little bit every shift and if we don't do that then we're going to lose. We all have to be dialed in and prepared to do whatever it takes. We have the right mindset in this room and guys want to win. We feel good about the group, so hopefully, it goes well."

It has been a playoff-style environment down the stretch, but everything will increase.

Coach's corner: Cassidy already has his to-do list ready to go in order to prepare for Thursday. He will discuss the team's need to defend the front of its net better than it has of late.

"Clearly, that's an issue," Cassidy said. "We did a better job of (stick positioning in the passing and shooting lanes) the midway part of the year. Lately, it's been a bit of an issue. It's not an easy fix."

Part of Cassidy's year-long message was "showing up on time." The Bruins sputtered at times this season in that category, especially of late. They need better starts in the playoffs.

"We've got to find a way to get out front early," Cassidy said. "We've got to find a way to not continually chase the hockey game. Whether that's getting a big save, whether that's managing the puck better, whether it's tracking back better; all three of those came into play, for the most part, when we fell behind."