Florida Panthers retake home ice by force as 4 power-play goals beat Boston 6-2 in Game 3 | Opinion

You didn’t know what to expect in Game 3 Friday night, the Third Act of this Panthers-Bruins playoff drama. You couldn’t.

After an opening 5-1 Boston win countered by a 6-1 Florida triumph -- I’ll see your five goals, and raise you -- a close hockey game might have been the best bet, not one that ended lopsided with an open net.

Wrong.

The other best bet might have been a Broward Sheriff deputy skating alongside the Cats’ Matthew Tkachuk for protection from Bruins retribution for that late Game 2 TKO of David Pastrnak -- that direct-hit fist lending whole new meaning to the phrase “face off.”

That confrontation had begun quite gentlemanly.

“I asked him to fight. He said we’ll do it next game,” Tkachuk recalled the on-ice exchange. “Then he said, ‘OK, I’m going out next shift.’ We’re not known for fighting, me and him. But we weren’t going out there to play patty-cake. Tons of respect for him wanting to do that, too. During that moment you can’t even hear the crowd. You kind of black out and just throw as many punches as you can.”

That most visceral display of what “playoff hockey” means in its most brutal sense carried over to define the series thus far as the grudge shifted to Boston and saw a convincing 6-2 Panthers win for a 2-1 lead in this NHL second-round series. Few fisticuffs this time, but still a full-on flex of power by the Cats.

“It was awesome and added a little fire to the series for us,” said teammate Kyle Okposo of Tkachuk’s hit and its carryover effect. “Kind of old-school hockey. That one felt like a playoff game. It’s different -- that pure dopamine in your brain. You gotta enjoy it. There’s nothing like playoff hockey. For a chance to lift that mug, that [Stanley] Cup, it’s the best tournament in the world.”

Florida flexed its power with Tkachuk’s fist in Game 2, and its power play with four man-advantage goals in Game 3.

Bruins fans were raining scattered boos at the home team as the second period ended down three, with their team being outshot 25-8. Final shots were 33-16.

Florida is playing with house money now entering Game 4 back in Beantown Sunday -- the home-ice advantage retaken by force. The Panthers have now won four straight playoff games in Boston dating to last season.

“It was up to us to get that home ice back,”said Tkachuk. “We’ve got a template for how we want to play.”

The Cats led 1-0 mid-first when Evan Rodrigues knocked a deflection of a Gustav Forsling shot from mid-air with his stick and tipped it home.

Then came two power-play goals capitalizing on a double-minor, four-minute penalty handed Mason Lohrei for a high stick that drew blood to the face of Steven Lorentz. Whatever pain Lorentz felt was not in vain.

Vladimir Tarasenko’s wrist shot made it 2-0 with the man advantage, one of the assists going to Sam Bennett, back in the lineup after seven games out injured.

“Him back out there had the bench fired up,” said coach Paul Maurice.

“Such a huge boost to our team and lockerroom,” said Takchuk of Bennett. “He played awesome. I don’t think anybody is as physical for us as Benny.”

Bruins star Brad Marchand did not play in the third period after an earlier hard hit by Bennett knocked him woozy.

Bennett called being sidelined seven games “torture,” and added, “It was important not to dip your toe in and go out there and play full speed.”

Maurice called Bennett, “Maybe the prototypical Florida Panther identity. He might embody that.”

It was 3-0 exactly one minute later on the same penalty when Carter Verhaeghe finished a wonderful pass from Tkachuk.

“The hostile environment, sometimes it helps us,” Verhaeghe had said, of Boston, after Friday’s morning skate. “It’s kind of fun on the road when everybody’s against you and you only got the guys in the room.”

Florida made it 4-0 on Brandon Montour’s third period shot -- another power play goal -- before Boston finally scored on Jakub Lusk’s goal. At 4-2 on Jake DeBrusk’s goal Panthers fans back home had to be getting a tinge anxious, still with half the third period left.

Bruins had a power play then, too, that forced four Sergei Bobrovsky saves and a skate-save by Dmitry Kulikov.

“We gave up more than we’d like in the third,” said Tkachuk.

But it would get no closer.

Sam Reinhart’s late empty netter made it 5-2, and another Rodrigues goal on a late power play made the final score.

Florida had been 0-for-18 on power plays vs. Boston this season including four regular-season losses to the Bruins, until a PP goal late in Game 2 and then Friday’s quartet that were the difference in the game. The four power play goals were the most in a playoff game in club history.

“Our legs and our sticks were matching,” Maurice described his team’s synchronized performance that included splendid defense blocking Bruins shots and making the night (mostly) easy for Bobrovsky.

Relative to most harrowing nights on ice, Bobrovsky could have done a crossword puzzle back there or worked on his yoga poses during long stretches when Boston could hardly buy a shot on goal. But his work came in bunches including that Bruins power play when they’d pulled within 4-2.

Florida has limited the Bruins to only 31 shots over the past two games. Part of that has been defenseman Aaron Ekblad’s rebound from a poor Game 1 that Maurice acknowledged to the media.

“He’s not very happy with me at the [next] morning skate,” Maurice admitted.

When the coach punched Ekblad’s shoulder pad during the next game and praised his performance, Ekblad gave him a dirty look and said a profane version of “What did you expect!?”

Maurice recalled the story with a smile, saying, “He came to the rink with a snarl.”

This series still hasn’t seen the nerve-jangling finish of a one-goal game. Then again, you get the feeling the series has only just begun and is hardly close to over.

“Everybody is wired. Crowds are berserk. Lots of pressure,” said Maurice, loving all of it. “This is how hockey is supposed to be. If you’re hockey fan, you’re not missing Panthers-Bruins. Heavy and fast and mean and awesome.”