The 2024-25 NHL season started for the Boston Bruins the same way the 2023-24 season ended, with a loss to the Florida Panthers. For most of the game it was utter domination by the defending Stanley Cup champions as the Panthers scored four goals in the first period to put it away early. Not only that, new goalie Joonas Korpisalo got roughed up, allowing six goals on thirty-five shot attempts. To add insult to injury, one of them was a shorthanded goal by Sam Reinhart. Jonah Gadjovich scored to make it 5-1 in the second period but Charlie McAvoy kept the Bruins in it with a goal. Trailing 6-2, Trent Frederic scored with just over 3 minutes left and David Pastrnak scored on the powerplay to make it 6-4 with 1:45 left. That was it as the Panthers mauled the Bruins 6-4 at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers set the tone early that this was going to be their night when Carter Verhaeghe sniped one off of Joonas Korpisalo just 67 seconds into the game on a breakaway. Four minutes later, Korpisalo made another save off a Verhaeghe shot. Fireworks erupted just 5:55 into the game when new Bruin Mark Kastelic rumbled with ex-Bruin AJ Greer. Thirty seconds later Evan Rodrigues blasted a slapshot off of Korpisalo and Sam Bennett poked the puck in to put Florida on top 1-0. Just over a minute later Anton Lundell passed it to Sam Reinhart for a one timer. Korpisalo left a rebound and Eetu Luostarinen jammed it in for another goal to put the Panthers up 2-0. Things looked bleak when Trent Frederic took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty 9:18 into the period but the Bruins were able to kill it off. With 6 minutes left in the period, Verhaeghe beat Korpisalo clean but it rang off the post and out. Then new Bruin Nikita Zadorov took a cross-checking penalty with 5:10 left to put the Panthers on the power play. Andrew Peeke grabbed the puck, passed it ahead to new Bruin Elias Lindholm who dished it to Pavel Zacha. Zacha fired it past Sergei Bobrovsky to cut the lead in half with a short handed goal. The Panthers then served the humiliation back when Greer was sent to the box for hooking with 2:38 left. Brad Marchand was robbed by Bobrovsky and Charlie McAvoy's pass was stripped by Alexsander Barkov. Sam Reinhart took the pass, shot it over the stick of McAvoy past Korpisalo to break the Bruins back. One minute later, Greer came out of the box and fired on the net. Korpisalo saved it but left the rebound, Bennett punching it in for the goal to make it 4-1 Panthers heading into the second period. Brutal!
All Panthers in this one
The Panthers suffocated the Bruins in the second period and making them lose their composure. New Bruin Cole Koepke got bagged for hooking 3:32 into the period but somehow the Bruins killed it off. Just over nine minutes into the period, Uvis Balinskis passed it to old pal Jesper Boqvist. Boqvist drew Korpisalo out of the net then passed it to Jonah Gadjovich who scored easily to put Florida up by four. The Bruins did fight back when Hampus Lindholm passed it to John Beecher. Beecher shot it on net but the puck was kicked out by Bobrosvky. McAvoy dumped in the rebound for the goal to inch the Bruins closer with 7:28 left in the period. The Bruins went shorthanded when new Bruin Max Jones got called for unsportsmanlike conduct with 3:44 left in the period. The Bruins killed it off and Lundell got sent to the box for high sticking with 1:20 left in the period. The Bruins did nothing on the power-play and went into intermission down 5-2.
The Bruins failed to score with the time remaining to begin the third and Florida essentially ended it with 13:34 left in the game. Aaron Ekblad passed it to Matt Tkachuk who sent it up the boards to Rodrigues. Rodrigues scored but Sam Bennett took Korpisalo out with an unintentional clothesline. A scrum ensued and both Trent Frederic and Tkachuk joined Bennett in the penalty box. The Bruins did nothing on the power play and Jones got sent off for roughing with 10:23 left in the game. The Bruins killed it off but Zadorov was whistled for slashing with 5:44 left. The Bruins killed that one off too and finally struck with 3:09 left. Justin Brazeau won a puck battle behind the net and sent it in front for Frederic who scored to cut the lead in half. Twelve seconds later, Balinskis was called for tripping to put the Bruins on the power play. With 1:45 left, McAvoy dished it to Pastrnak who threw it in front looking for Lindholm. Instead, the puck bounced off the skate of Dmitry Kulikov and in for a Pastrnak goal to suddenly pull the Bruins within two. The Bruins pulled Korpisalo but couldn't get any further as the Panthers won the game 6-4.
Reaction:
Meet the new Bruins, same as the old Bruins. With Jeremy Swayman missing the entire training camp, the Bruins essentially HAD to start Korpisalo in this one and he proved why he never deserved the gigantic contract he has. Not only that, the defense totally sucked out there. Brandon Carlo was a -2, Mason Lohrei was a -3 and both Peeke & Zadorov were -1. The defense letting Boqvist & Gadjovich just walk in was inexcusable. Still, no need to overreact after the first game of the season but the talent discrepency between the two teams is appalling. The Bruins are trotting out Max Jones, Cole Koepke and Justin Brazeau mostly because Jake DeBrusk, James Van Riemsdyk and Pat Maroon are gone. They shed talent for the second year in a row and they paid for it tonight. Hopefully its not a trend for the rest of the season because we got a long way to go. The Bruins look to bounce back on Thursday night in the home opener against their century old rivals the Montreal Canadiens. The game begins at 7:00 PM at TD Garden.
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