Aleksander Barkov scored two goals and had two assists, while Sam Reinhart assisted four times as the Florida Panthers defeated the Boston Bruins 6-1 on Wednesday night to even the second-round series at one game each.
Brandon Montour had a goal and two assists, and Steven Lorentz, Gustav Forsling, and Eetu Luostarinen also scored. The Panthers replaced Bruins starter Jeremy Swayman early in the third period after scoring four consecutive goals, and then added two more against Linus Ullmark.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves for the Panthers. The five-goal lead equaled Florida’s largest in a playoff game, matching the victory against Tampa Bay on April 29.
Charlie Coyle scored the lone goal for the Bruins, who were defeated by Florida for the first time in six meetings this season. The series moves to Boston for Game 3 on Friday night and Game 4 on Sunday night.
The third period saw 136 penalty minutes distributed following several altercations, shaping a storyline that will carry into Friday. This included Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk taking multiple shots at Boston’s David Pastrnak in a star-on-star showdown with the game already decided.
Following the first 20 minutes, Florida displayed complete dominance. They prevented Boston from taking a single shot on goal for over 16 minutes of game time, equivalent to 53 minutes of actual time. Parker Wotherspoon sent the puck the full length of the ice with 5:08 left in the second, considered a shot as it was directed at Bobrovsky. The Bruins didn’t attempt another shot until Wotherspoon did at 8:57 in the third.
Swayman, who essentially split time with Linus Ullmark during the regular season with 43 starts to Ullmark’s 39, made his seventh consecutive start, the longest streak for a Boston goalie since Tuukka Rask started 11 straight games to finish the 2021-22 season.
Swayman was unable to finish the game after Florida finally broke through in the second period. He stopped 19 of 23 shots, increasing his playoff goals-against average from 1.42 to 1.81.
Boston had not conceded more than one goal in any period during these playoffs and hadn’t allowed three in a period in nearly two months — not since the New York Rangers scored three in the third period of a game on March 21, two of which were empty-net goals. The Bruins hadn’t allowed three goals in a period with an actual goalie in net since March 16 against Philadelphia.
However, the Panthers managed to score early, midway through the period, and right at the end. Lorentz redirected a shot from Montour into the top corner of the net at 1:58, Barkov pounced close to push a rebound from Reinhart's shot into the net for a 2-1 lead at 9:49, and then Forsling scored just before the period ended to increase the lead to 3-1.
With about 7 seconds remaining, Montour deflected a clearing attempt from the Bruins and then took a shot from the right point that missed. Anton Lundell retrieved the rebound from the end boards and found Forsling, who fired from the left side with 1.3 seconds left, beating Swayman, who appeared to be obstructed by Boston defender Charlie McAvoy on the play.
The momentum continued into the third period. It only took Florida 1:28 to make it 4-1, as Barkov assisted Luostarinen from close range for a simple goal. That was the conclusion of Swayman’s evening. ___