There was much ballyhoo and plenty of hype about the significant improvements that the Boston Bruins made this offseason, with many of those roster alterations made to better brace the B’s for a Florida Panthers team that’s eliminated them in the playoffs in each of the last two Stanley Cup playoffs.
None of it mattered on opening night as the Panthers lifted their championship banner on home ice and then once again pushed around the B’s to the tune of a 6-4 final score at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday night. The Bruins dutifully pushed back and executed a final flurry in the closing minutes that made the final score closer than the game had actually been, but when it was over Florida left zero doubt who the better hockey team is right now.
“You would like to think you will know what your team will look like in the opening game, and you never do,” said Florida coach Paul Maurice. “That is what keeps you awake the night before the opener. But we looked right, and fast, and quick. ... We skated well, and it was the banner for sure. But it was also the fans, right? They were wired and there was a great buzz in the building. We played off that. There was a lot of energy for that.”
The Panthers once again caught the B’s flat-footed early with their frenetic, physical forecheck and had a three-goal lead at the end of a first period where they rifled 17 shots on Joonas Korpisalo. Most noticeable of all was how the new-and-improved Bruins defensemen corps struggled mightily under the heavy pressure just as they have in each of the last two postseasons.
On paper, things would appear to have changed, but on the ice absolutely nothing has at this point.
Mason Lohrei was a team-worst minus-3 and on the ice for four of Florida’s six goals scored, Brandon Carlo struggled big time with net-front coverage assignments while also fighting the physical battles all over the ice and every D-man not named Nikita Zadorov wilted when it came to fighting and winning the battles around the Boston net. Carlo and Hampus Lindholm both finished with three giveaways as they consistently surrendered the puck under the intense pressure that the Panthers exerted on them all over the ice.
Even Charlie McAvoy (a goal and two points) had a tough defensive night as he was flat-out beaten in a one-on-one play against Sam Reinhart when the Panthers scored a backbreaking shorthanded goal late in the first period that really turned the game away from Boston.
Oh my Sam Reinhart 😳 pic.twitter.com/bbHuRxnAXc
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 9, 2024
Plenty of folks did a lot of chest-thumping about how big, strong and heavy the Bruins defensemen corps is headed into this season, but it looked like the exact same losing result against the Panthers yet again. The Bruins looked slow and unready for what the ferocious Panthers were throwing at them coming out of the preseason, and their head coach said as much after it was all over.
“We weren’t good enough in so many areas tonight,” said Jim Montgomery. “They were. Their execution was really good and ours was really poor. I can’t pinpoint why we looked slow, but we looked slow the entire game, not just the first 10 minutes."
The opening night loss was far from the goaltender’s fault in this loss but giving up six goals on 35 shots wasn’t really an encouraging debut from Korpisalo, either, coming off a down season in Ottawa. Many of the goals came as the Bruins were under siege and failing to clear loose pucks from the front of the net, but Korpisalo was giving out those rebounds and couldn’t come up with a big save or two late in the first period when the Bruins halved Florida’s lead to 2-1 at a pivotal point in the game.
“The game was 4-1 after the first, so I am not too happy with that,” said Korpisalo. “There were a couple of weird bounces, but it was pretty hard to come back there. I just have to be better. It was 6-4. I’m not happy.”
Clearly the Bruins weren’t happy with the Panthers during the game as well, but it felt like they were constantly reacting rather than proactively taking the play to them. Several of the B’s eight penalties were retaliation against the Panthers, and one was even new forward Max Jones mistakenly slashing the arm of one of the referees while attempting to go after a Florida player.
Max Jones takes an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after accidentally slashing the ref 😳 pic.twitter.com/2dQzepfq6P
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 9, 2024
Meanwhile, certified Bruins villain Sam Bennett scored two goals and blasted Korpisalo full speed with a kamikaze net attack as Evan Rodrigues scored a third-period goal for the Panthers. Lohrei made a nominal attempt to hold Bennett accountable and the Bruins got a power play out of the sequence, but they still weren’t able to find a way to make Panthers players like Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk answer for their rogue activity all over the ice.
To his credit, Trent Frederic was challenging Bennett and Tkachuk most of the night and was incensed postgame that Tkachuk agreed to fight only to refuse dropping his gloves when it was “go time” in the first period.
“I didn’t know guys did that…a little disrespectful to the game,” said Frederic to reporters following the game.
Trent Frederic attempted to find a dance partner and didn't get very far. pic.twitter.com/4vwD4e7A5O
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 8, 2024
The sole redeeming thing about Tuesday night’s loss to Florida is that it was just one game and their new $66 million man Jeremy Swayman wasn’t in net after holding out for the duration of training camp. It clearly wasn’t the best that the Bruins will be this season, but the game also very openly demonstrated that the Black and Gold have a long, long way to go before they’re going to be at Florida’s level.
That’s a disappointing dose of reality that will give the Bruins players something to be aiming for as they fly headlong into a long, challenging NHL regular season that’s just getting started.