Panthers Revert Back to Original Lines, Tie Up Series With Boston

Sunrise, FL – It looked like Jeremy Swayman was on his way to another gem of a performance.

The Boston Bruins goaltender shut down the Florida Panthers in a 5-1 Boston victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, and was largely effective through a shutout first period in Game 2 on Wednesday.

After Bruins center Charlie Coyle smacked home a rebound for the first goal of the game 12 minutes into the first period, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice had seen enough from the forward lines he rolled with to start the series. 

Weymouth’s own. pic.twitter.com/WHGndyWoZg

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 9, 2024

Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk moved back down to the second line with Anton Lundell, while Vladimir Tarasenko and Sam Reinhart moved up to the first line with Aleksander Barkov. It was largely the same lines the Panthers ran throughout the regular season and first three games of their round one victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“(Steven) Stamkos went up with (Brayden) Point and (Nikita) Kucherov, and that changed things for us,” Maurice said in reflecting to the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. 

The Panthers put up six goals in their Game 5 clincher against Tampa in which Maurice changed the lines to have Verhaeghe, Barkov, and Tkachuk all on the first line together, with Eetu Luostarinen, Lundell, and Reinhart on the second line.

While the Verhaeghe-Barkov-Tkachuk line scored early in Game 1 against the Bruins, there was no more offense to speak of from anyone on the Panthers, and the defensive miscues didn’t help matters.

“I didn’t love the way we looked,” Maurice said.  “But sometimes ‘do no harm’ is the number one mandate of a coach. … The plus-minus stat, while I never use it, tells you that there’s something going on here, and then we went back to where we were just prior to the change in the Tampa series.”

The offense didn’t come online immediately in Wednesday’s 6-1 Panthers win, but the defense did its job the rest of the period, and carried over into the next two, with the Cats not allowing Boston to score another goal. 

The Bruins were held to just two scoring chances in 5-on-5 play in the final two periods, according to Natural Stat Trick. Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky only had to face 11 shots during 5-on-5 and made an additional two saves during Boston’s three power plays.

And then came the scoring.

STEVEN. LORENTZ. pic.twitter.com/EvOjbd98mk

— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 9, 2024

Fourth-line center Steven Lorentz got the Panthers on the scoreboard when he tipped in a Brandon Montour slapshot about two minutes into the second period.

Barkov, back with his linemate in Reinhart, banged in a rebound that Reinhart shot off the leg pad of Swayman to give the Panthers the lead halfway through the second period.

Gustav Forsling ended the second frame with a buzzer-beating slap shot that found the back of the net with 1.3 seconds to go.

GUSTAV RIGHT AT THE BUZZER 🔥 pic.twitter.com/sNpjmfIFp7

— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 9, 2024

Caught between line changes, Luostarinen scored 88 seconds into the third period thanks to quick-passing from Reinhart behind the net, to Barkov at the left side of the crease, to Luostarinen at the right side, where he was able to one-time it past Swayman.

Swayman, who had started the previous seven playoff games for Boston before Wednesday while allowing 1.42 goals per game, was pulled for Linus Ullmark halfway through the third period.

Barkov and Montour each notched another goal after that, both of which were assisted by Reinhart. The 28-year-old Reinhart had four assists Wednesday night. Barkov had two.

"They Found Out" 🖼️🎨#TimeToHunt  | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/hi3uiOVgnK

— Lemon City Live (@LemonCityLive) May 9, 2024

The Panthers head to Boston for Game 3 on Friday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm. Sam Bennett, who anchors the second line when healthy, is traveling with the team on this road trip and is expected to play for either Game 3 or 4 after missing the end of Round 1 and the beginning of Round 2 with a hand injury.