As Florida Panthers look to bounce back against Bruins, here’s what they need to fix
The Florida Panthers know a run through the playoffs is never going to be perfect. They were always going to be bumps in the road, no matter the fact that they are viewed as one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.
That was on full display in their loss to the Boston Bruins on Monday to being their second-round series. After playing even with the Bruins despite some sloppy play through the first 30 minutes and pulling ahead 1-0, they gave up three goals on three consecutive shots midway through the second period and ultimately lost 5-1 to begin the best-of-7 series.
“That’s how quickly a game can turn,” Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “We were trying to play catch up. Whenever you do that, it’s always tough.”
The defeat stung in the moment.
Now, as they get ready to take the ice for Game 2 on Wednesday night and try to even the series, the Panthers know all too well the importance of bouncing back especially as they try to avoid starting the series in an 0-2 hole before playing the next two games in Boston.
“It’s just the necessary skill for survival in the playoffs,” head coach Paul Maurice said when asked about the ability to learn from tough losses. “Nobody’s gone 16-0 as far as I know. Everybody’s going to suffer a defeat. You’re always going to have a game that you don’t like. Rebound. Learn from it. Even if it’s not the critical piece to the next game, you’ll always comes back to it. There will be a loss that will really help you going forward.”
For the Panthers, two main goals come to mind.
The first is to clean up the sloppiness that showed up far too often in Game 1. The Panthers had 11 giveaways against the Bruins on Monday and that played a part in each of Boston’s three second-period goals. The Bruins had an aggressive forecheck — no different than the style the Panthers try to employ — and Florida had trouble combating it.
“It’s just getting back to the puck a little quicker,” defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. “Talk a little bit more. A lot of simple stuff that you can control.”
The second is to get a higher quality of scoring chances on Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 38 of 39 shots the Panthers threw at him but relatively few were dangerous shots.
“We just want to get back to our game,” Verhaeghe said. “They played a good game. ... We’ve got to settle in and we’ve got some things to fix.”
And this Panthers team this season has shown it’s ability to quickly return to form. Florida only had one stretch this season where it lost more than two consecutive games in regulation and only two stretches total with four consecutive losses.
But in the playoffs, any rough patch gets magnified because the margin for error is so slim.
The Panthers know they need to respond. Now, it’s a matter of showing they can do it again when it matters the most.
“The postseason is just so mentally challenging,’’ forward Sam Reinhart said. “When you are going through a series, there are so many ups-and-downs. You could be up 3-0, lose a game in Tampa, and it feels like the world is ending for a minute. But everything settles back down. You get through a series and you mentally relax for a minute. A game like [Monday] will get you right back into it, and that’s where you want to be. You want to be engaged, right in the thick of things. We have a big test [Wednesday] and we are looking forward to that challenge and learning how we can get better.’’
