Bruins playoff notebook: Bergeron out for Game 2 vs. Panthers; Hall coming along in return

The Bruins will take on the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Boston leads the series, 1-0.

SERIES SCHEDULE

Game 1: Bruins win, 3-1
Game 2: Wednesday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m. AT BOSTON (TV: NESN, ESPN, Sportsnet | RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub)
Game 3: Friday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. AT FLORIDA (TV: NESN, TNT, Sportsnet | RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub)
Game 4: Sunday, April 23 at 3:30 p.m. AT FLORIDA (TV: NESN, TNT, Sportsnet 1 | RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub)
Game 5: Wednesday, April 26 TBD AT BOSTON (TV: TBD | RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub)
Game 6: Friday, April 28 TBD AT FLORIDA (TV: TBD | RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub)
Game 7: Sunday, April 30 TBD AT BOSTON (TV: TBD | RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub) 

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UPDATE: Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron will not play in Game 2 against the Florida Panthers, Jim Montgomery said Wednesday.

Bergeron skated on his own before Boston's morning skate. He did not partake in the team portion.

"He's progressing well," Montgomery said. "He's day-by-day." 

Bergeron, who did not suit up in Game 1, has been dealing with a nagging upper-body injury, which caused him to leave last Thursday's regular-season finale after the first period. Over the weekend, No. 37 became the latest Bruin to fall victim to an illness that has been traveling around the room. It knocked Jakub Lauko down so much, the young forward lost eight pounds when he had it. 

Montgomery clarified that at this point, it isn't illness keeping Bergeron out of the lineup, "He's not at a point where he could play tonight."

It seems things could be starting to trend in the right direction for Bergeron's health, though.

"He's feeling better," Montgomery said at Warrior Ice Arena on Tuesday. "He's questionable for [Game 2]."

Bergeron did not partake in Tuesday's optional practice. 

Bergeron's presence still felt

Even if Bergeron hasn't been on the ice, the Bruins have still felt his impact in the room.

 "He doesn't get rattled by anything. He promotes positivity, cool, calm, confidence, that I think permeates through the room," Montgomery said. "We keep him involved. Like [Monday night], we're having him in the coaches' room, talking about what he's seeing. He's in the dressing room talking to the players about what he's seeing, you know, so that gives the players confidence. He has a huge presence with us even if he's not on the ice."

The B's said postgame on Monday that Bergeron was around the team all day, talking to them and helping to prepare. Pavel Zacha added Tuesday that Bergeron was a huge help to his strong night at the face-off dot on Monday. Zacha's regular season success rate on draws was 45.3 percent. He went 10-for-17 (58.82 percent) in Game 1.

"It helps a lot, trying to practice it with [Tomas Nosek] and [assistant coach Chris Kelly], and Bergy told us a couple things before the game, too, what to focus on, and we had some meetings for face-offs," Zacha said. "He's one of the best in the league so it's great he can give you tips even if he wasn't playing last game. He was there. He was talking to me when I had some questions. It's great to have him there."

Zacha said Bergeron's even-keel presence helped him settle in for his first playoff game in five seasons, just the sixth of his career.

"He talked to me a little bit," he said. "I told him I hadn't played playoffs in a while and he was just calming me down"

Montgomery said Bergeron's hockey IQ is "off the charts."

"I learn from him every day. He'll say something on the bench, and I'll think 'I should start saying that now.'"

Hall coming along 

Taylor Hall was one of Boston's more active skaters in Game 1. He used his speed to break free for odd-man rushes with Trent Frederic, who Alex Lyon robbed twice. Hall may have been better served shooting on at least one of the scoring chances, but it was still encouraging to see from No. 71 as he continues to get fully up to speed.

"They came from good defensive posture. We weren't cheating to get those chances," Hall said Tuesday. "You know, would have loved to see one of them go in, but I know Fred's good for it. He's going to be a big contributor for us throughout the playoffs, and he has been all season. 

"It's nice to get odd-man rushes. It's nice to see 2-on-1's and 3-on-2's that come from, like I said, good posture. Over the course of the series, that's a really important thing. We limited them to I think two odd-man rushes, so took away a strength of their game too."

Hall logged 12:57 of ice time in Game 1, his third-highest total in the four games he's played since returning from a lower-body injury. The 31-year-old managed two shot attempts, a blocked shot and a hit. He also led all Bruins skaters with three takeaways. The first rush opportunity with Frederic came after Hall forced a turnover at the point before blasting past Gustav Forsling, and the second game after the Bruins chipped the puck to space in the neutral zone, where Hall won a 50-50 puck from Radko Gudas.

Hall said it was important for him to return before the end of the regular season to prepare for the postseason.

"Just the pace, the timing of the game and, honestly, to get into those games and make mistakes and put yourself in spots that you don't want to be in and correct those and have three days to kind of look back on the video and make some corrections to my game was really valuable," he said. "That's what I tried to do. I knew those three games weren't going to be perfect, but if I could get myself in a pretty good spot for Game 1, I was happy I was able to do that."

Montgomery agreed with Hall's assessment of where his scoring chances originated. 

"I thought Taylor Hall was one of our better players [in Game 1]," Montgomery said. "I thought his details and habits were excellent. And then you combine that with his speed, it creates mismatches for us. Three chances all came from real good D-zone plays by him that led to offensive chances. One was by him, two were by Freddy."

Stick to the defensive plan against Barkov and Co.

The Bruins held the ever-dangerous two-way threat of Aleksander Barkov without a shot on goal in 19:51 of ice time in Game 1. The Panthers' captain managed just one attempt at 5-on-5 as well. Winger Carter Verhaeghe managed two individual high-danger chances, but he and Anthony Duclair were mostly held in check, too. 

Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo were tasked with the defensive assignment.

"I just think Lindholm and Brando did a really good job of having great gaps against that line," Montgomery said. "I don't look at it as a Barkov thing, I look at it like a line. Verhaeghe has 40 goals. And for the most part, we did a really good job."

Florida out-attempted Boston in that matchup, but actual shots on goal evened out. None of the three had an expected goals rate above 0.40 against Lindholm and Carlo, according to Natural Stat Trick.

"All together we did a really good job, the way we track things, we only gave up seven Grade-A chances," Montgomery added. "That's gonna put you in a good position to win a lot of hockey games. Unfortunately, we didn't get many more ourselves. That's where we look at where we need to improve our game."

The top line with Zacha, Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk was strong when matched up with Florida's top trio, too. The Bruins outshot the Cats, 5-2, with Zacha on the ice against the opposing top line. The B's outscored the Cats, 1-0, at 5-on-5 with Zacha on the ice against Verhaeghe and Barkov. It was 2-0 against Duclair. 

"Plus-minus, you want to win that battle," Zacha said. "That's the exciting part for me, to be in those positions to play against those lines."

Even if Boston managed to stifle some of the Panthers' top pieces, it'll still have to key in on Matthew Tkachuk as the series goes along. Tkachuk scored Florida's only goal, taking advantage of a gift from Dmitry Orlov, flashing some slick hands in tight. The scoring agitator had three shots, and three hits in addition to drawing a penalty.

"I don't think anything changed with my opinion of Matthew Tkachuk after [Game 1]," Montgomery said. "I thought he was really good and I think he's a hell of a hockey player. He competes all over the ice. He gets to hard areas and that's the things that we look at. You're not gonna deter him because his compete level is so high. But you're going to be able to take good body position. Make sure he doesn't beat you to the net front and try to take good angles so you can take away time and space. 

"You've got to try to make him defend. The more time he spends in his own end, the further he is away from making plays in your own end."

The Bruins' penalty kill was particularly strong as well, keeping Florida to just one shot attempt on two power play opportunities. Boston actually outshot the Panthers, 2-0, when down a man.

"I think just how connected we were, all four guys, from the forecheck, into our zone and off the face-offs," Montgomery said of what helped those units. "I thought that we ran good routes and stick positioning. We were all connected."

Panthers with lineup questions of their own

Florida coach Paul Maurice did not commit to Lyon as the Game 2 starter during his Tuesday availability, but it still seems the Cats will stick with him.

The 30-year-old stopped 26 of 29 shots in the 3-1 result. He bungled what should have been a glove save on Brad Marchand's wrist shot on the rush to make it 2-0 in the second period on Monday. That goal went down as the game-winner.

Maurice was still thrilled with Lyon's game on Monday, saying he was "just so good."

”He’ll want that second one back, but we’re not measuring that as the tell of his game,” Maurice said postgame. ”I’ll give him an A-plus for tonight.”

Even if Maurice didn't definitively say he's sticking with Lyon, he did pump the journeyman's tires again on Tuesday.

“I think he was fantastic last night,” Maurice said. “I loved his game.”

An aside on the Marchand goal, goalie guru Kevin Woodley of InGoal Magazine and NHL.com said the equipment failed Lyon on the goal.

"The fail is, it hits the edge of the glove, and the pocket collapses backwards, allowing the puck to essentially go through it," Woodley said via text to Jeff Marek on Tuesday's 'The Jeff Marek Show.' "It's because the pocket edge materials haven't been reinforced and soften up as goalies try to break in the glove and have it present super wide and stretch it out.

"At the end of the day, on the shot from that distance, catch it in the pocket cleanly. But he lost all margin for error because the equipment failed him in the moment."

As Woodley still noted, a save Lyon should have had. 

Like Boston, the Panthers held an optional practice on Tuesday. Injured forward Sam Bennett was on the ice for a fourth consecutive day. A key piece as Florida's second center, Bennett hasn't played since March 20. But Maurice said he's trending upward, "I'm getting the optimism that he'll return soon."

Maurice said the Panthers will be careful to avoid setbacks, but depending on how Bennett feels in the coming days, he could be able to add another layer to a formidable Florida attack. 

UPDATE: Sam Bennett will return as the second-line center for Florida in Game 2. 

"Just another really good hockey player that's a top-six forward to them," Montgomery said of Bennett. "Another guy that plays the game the right way. He's hard and physical and goes to the hard areas. Just another someone that you have to be aware of for them. He makes their depth better."