BSJ Game Report: Bruins 4, Panthers 2 - Bruins stymie another high-powered offense

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-2 win over the Panthers, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Bruins don’t give Florida much in offensive zone: Hours ahead of Tuesday’s meeting against the Panthers, Bruce Cassidy noted the importance of what could have been cast aside as a no-nothing, sleepy regular-season tilt in the final week of action ahead of the postseason. 

Because for a Bruins team whose postseason hopes will likely hinge on its ability to negate scoring chances, a bout against a Panthers club averaging over four goals per game stood as a telling measuring-stick exercise. 

"We'll look at it as this is the most explosive offensive team in the NHL,” Cassidy noted. “I know Colorado is in the mix, Toronto, some high-end teams. So to measure maybe our checking game tonight to see how far we've come in that department. We've done a really good job of that at the second half of the year against some teams — including Colorado here at home, went out to St. Louis, a team that's really hot. So that's going to be our mandate tonight, to make sure we get that in order.”

Another tall task — and another trial passed with flying colors.

Much as they did last week against an imposing St. Louis offense, the Bruins gave Florida next to nothing in the offensive zone on Tuesday night, with Boston holding the Panthers to just three shots on goal in the final 20 minutes of play en route to a 4-2 win at TD Garden.

Boston, which received scoring contributions from Erik Haula, Taylor Hall, Jake DeBrusk and Brad Marchand, ended up holding a commanding 15-5 edge in high-danger scoring chances against Florida during 5v5 play.

Sounds like a winning formula. 

Bruins-Hurricanes looking pretty likely: The first-round matchups in the Eastern Conference are not etched in stone quite yet … but it’s getting pretty close.

With Carolina defeating the Rangers, 4-3, at Madison Square Garden, the Hurricanes have clinched the Metropolitan Division — setting them on a potential postseason collision course with Boston for the third time in the last four years.  

The Bruins can now finish in no worse than the first Wild-Card spot (and a matchup with Carolina) now that Boston beat Florida and both the Capitals and Penguins lost on Tuesday. And even though Boston could conceivably leapfrog Tampa Bay and secure the third seed in the Atlantic (and a first-round meeting with Toronto) if they win their final two games and the Bolts lose their final two games, that sure seems unlikely. 

Might be time to start bracing for another Storm Surge. 

Bruins hand out hardware

Ahead of puck drop, the Bruins handed out some end-of-season awards, with Boston’s top stars (unsurprisingly) featured heavily in the ceremony. 

The Eddie Shore Award, given to the player who shows exceptional hustle and determination, as chosen by the "Gallery Gods”, was handed out to Charlie McAvoy. Along with his breakout season in the offensive zone (55 points in 76 games), McAvoy leads all Bruins skaters in average ice time per game at 24:41. 

David Pastrnak was awarded the Elizabeth Dufresne Trophy, which is given to the player exemplifying outstanding performance on home ice as determined by the Boston Chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. In 37 games at TD Garden this season, Pastrnak has buried 26 goals and posted 46 points.

Nick Foligno earned the John P. Bucyk Award, given to the player who provided exceptional off-ice charitable contributions, as chosen by John Bucyk. In his first season with Boston, Foligno has been involved in every virtual visit this season with local Boston area hospitals. 

Finally, the Bruins' Three Stars are selected by 98.5 The Sports Hub for being top performers at home games over the course of a season featured a familiar trio in Pastrnak (First Star), Marchand (Second Star) and Patrice Bergeron (Third Star). 

Also, for those keeping tabs on a bit more hardware, the Bruins will hand out the 7th Player Award on Thursday night. 

THREE UP

Second Line: After a deflating opening tally from Gustav Forsling, Boston’s second line swung the momentum back in the B's favor — with Haula and Hall scoring just six seconds apart to put the home club back ahead. In the two games since Pastrnak has returned to the lineup, this Hall-Haula-Pastrnak trio has combined for nine points. Not too shabby.

Also, for all of the talk regarding Claude Giroux and his potential fit as Boston’s 2C during this Cup run, I’ll offer this stat line.

Since the trade deadline, Giroux has 23 points (3 goals, 20 assists) over 18 games with Florida. Pretty damn good.

But over that same stretch, Haula has also posted 19 points (10 goals, 9 assists) over 18 games with Boston.

Sure seems like the Bruins already have a pretty effective 2C in place. 

Jake DeBrusk: DeBrusk gave Boston the lead for good in the opening minutes of the second period, knocking a tumbling puck past Sergei Bobrovsky for his 24th goal of the season. His second-half resurgence continues.

Team Defense: We’re covering a wide swath of players with this one, but tonight was another example of the type of blueprint that Boston has to follow if it plans on extending its season into June. The Panthers had next to nothing all over the ice with Boston draping skaters over them, especially in the neutral zone.

THREE DOWN

Last-minute goal: Well, what do you know? The Bruins relinquished yet another last-minute goal — and the B’s knack for coughing up these back-breakers is almost impressive at this point (if it wasn’t so absolutely infuriating). Tuesday’s blemish was particularly brutal, with Sam Reinhart tying things up with just 0.6 seconds to go in the opening frame. Believe it or not, this stands as the 21st goal this season that the Bruins have surrendered in the final minute of play. 21!

And as I say every time I have to write this blurb in the “down” section, one of these back-breaking goals is going to swing the momentum of a seven-game series in the near future. Gotta tighten things up — and fast. 

Power play: In a recurring trend that has become almost as irksome as those last-minute goals, the Bruins once again could have made things a lot easier on themselves Tuesday had they managed to finally cash in on the man advantage. Much like that win over New York on Saturday, Boston’s power play did manage to generate quite a few quality looks against Bobrovsky, but that’s not going to absolve what is now an 0-for-36 slump. 

Matt Grzelcyk: Just a poor turnover by Grzelcyk here in the Bruins’ zone, just seconds after Boston stymied Florida with a strong penalty kill. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

What else was it going to be?

Erik Haula and Taylor Hall scored just six seconds apart to give Boston a brief lead in the opening frame — with that 1-2 punch tied for the second-fastest two goals in franchise history. The all-time record? Ray Getliffe and Leroy Goldsworthy lit the lamp just five seconds apart way back on Jan. 4, 1938. 

LOOSE PUCKS

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will close out the final homestand of the regular season on Thursday night with a matchup against the Sabres. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.