Defensive Miscues Sink Panthers in Game One

Sunrise, FL – The top defensive pairing that defined the Florida Panthers this season turned out to be the biggest liability in game one Monday night.

Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling allowed 0.66 goals per 60 minutes in their first-round victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning, according to Money Puck. It was the second-lowest total of all defensive pairs with at least 75 minutes of ice time, behind Toronto’s Ilya Lybushkin and Morgan Rielly.

But the duo didn’t look like themselves in their Game 1 loss to the Boston Bruins. The Panthers opened the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 5-1 loss after a seven-day layoff from their Game 5 victory against the Lightning last Monday.

And now Anton Lundell gives away the puck in the neutral zone to Lindholm coming out the box, leading to a breakaway. Luckily Bob came up with the kick save.

They looked so sharp in the first 10 minutes of the game. Now, they look like a team that hasn't played in 7 days

— Alex Krutchik (@AlexKrutchikFOF) May 7, 2024

Forsling was on the ice for four of those goals, while Ekblad was there for three.

Ekblad had two giveaways, both in the defensive zone. One of them led directly to a Boston goal just 65 seconds after the Panthers scored their only goal of the night. When his pass off the wall got picked off by Boston, it was fed to Morgan Geekie, who roofed it to tie the game with 7:08 left in the second period.

Geeks gettin' us on the board. pic.twitter.com/l6O5qnTtVp

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 7, 2024

It wasn’t completely on Ekblad. Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky passed to Ekblad with two defenders near him instead of rimming it around the other side of the rink where Forsling was wide open.

The Bruins scored again with 3:41 left in the second frame when Forsling got the puck deep in the Panthers own corner. His outlet pass along the wall couldn’t connect with Vladimir Tarasenko at the blue line. Bruins center Pavel Zacha gained possession and passed it to Parker Wotherspoon before he fed it to defenseman Mason Lohrei. The rookie snapped a shot from the left faceoff circle and roofed it for his first postseason goal.

DAD STRENGTH 💪 pic.twitter.com/HAaeYYB9z5

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 7, 2024

Boston scored their third goal in the waning seconds of the second period with a Brandon Carlo wrist shot. Ekblad was unable to move Brad Marchand off the screen in front of Bobrovsky, and it seemed the Panthers goaltender never saw it coming.

The Bruins notched two more goals in the third period. One was a Justin Brazeau breakaway that began with a short outlet pass in the neutral zone that got past Forsling.

The final goal was an empty-netter by Jake DeBrusk.

Paul Maurice on Aaron Ekblad:

He's a Florida Panther and I love every inch of him. He'll be better next game, like the rest of us.

— Alex Krutchik (@AlexKrutchikFOF) May 7, 2024

The Panthers lone goal came off a Matthew Tkachuk wrist shot with 8:15 left in the second period. Aleksander Barkov forced a takeaway in the Boston defensive zone before passing to Tkachuk.

Bobrovsky stopped 22 of 26 shots he faced, and eight of nine high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick.