The Panthers wasted no time getting on the board as Sam Bennett scored just 1:24 into the game....but wait! Bruins coached Marco Sturm challenged that they were offsides and sure enough, the goal was overturned. A narrow escape for sure but not with just over four minutes into the period. Morgan Geekie completely whiffed on getting the puck out of the Bruins zone and Eetu Luostarinen pounced on it before scoring to put the Panthers on top.
The lead didn't last very long as just 7:18 into the game, Hampus Lindholm passed the puck up to Alex Steeves. Steeves fired it down the ice through the legs of Uvis Balinkis to Michael Eyssimont. Balinkis then fell down as Eyssimont scored on Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game.
The Bruins had a chance to jump ahead with just over 9 minutes gone in the game when Andrew Peeke passed to an open Fraser Minten. Fraser's shot clanged off the post and out. Then the Panthers did what they do best, bait the Bruins into a penalty. Sandis Vilmanis checked Jonathan Aspirot in the head and naturally he retaliated sparking the bench to clear. When all was said and done, both men got penalties but the Bruins got a bench minor served by Eyssimont to put the Panthers on a power play. With 8 minutes left in the period, Carter Verhaeghe's slapper went off Joonas Korpisalo and a few seconds later, Andrew Peeke moved the puck out of the corner. Marat Khusnutdinov fired the puck down ice to Eyssimont just out of the box. Michael scored on the breakaway to give the Bruins the lead. With 5 minutes left in the period, Khusnutdinov walked in alone but was denied by Bob. Ten seconds later, Aaron Ekblad was called for interference to put the Bruins on the power play. Geekie totally blew a breakaway and Evan Rodrigues nearly tapped home a shorthanded goal. With 3 minutes left in the perod, Casey Middlestadt hit the post with a shot and a minute later, Sean Kuraly was denied as well. Then things got testy with 53 seconds left when Matthew Poitras tripped up Sam Bennett. Bennett retaliated and another brawl broke out. Tanner Jeannot and old pal AJ Greer dropped the gloves and all four pen were penalized. Then Nikita Zadorov took a foolish slashing penalty after the period to put Florida on the power play when play resumed. Still, it was 2-1 Boston going into the break.
Naturally the Panthers didn't wait around to tie the game when the second period began. Anton Lundell dished it to Matt Tkachuk. Matt passed it to Balinskis at the point who fired it past Korpisalo to tie the game. Worse yet, two minutes later Viktor Arvidsson was sent off for hooking. Naturally, Balinskis passed it over to Lundell. Lundell found Tkachuk in the front of the net and he banged it home to give Florida the lead. Two power play goals for the Panthers. Korpisalo had to rob Verhaeghe point blank seven minutes into the period to keep it a one goal game. With 7:35 remaining in the period, Eetu Luostarinen got bagged for interference to put the Bruins on the power play. Arvidsson had an open net but was pushed down before he could take the shot. Geekie had a chance to shoot into the scrum in front of the net but dished it to David Pastrnak who couldn't corral it. Peeke damn near tapped it in but was cross checked from behind by Niko Mikkola for another penalty. Once again the Panthers had a better chance shorthanded but Lundell was robbed by Korpisalo. Geekie, Pastrnak and Hampus Lindholm were all denied on the power play. Luostarinen slashed the stick of Eyssimont to put the Bruins on another power play but the Panthers finally got the last laugh. With 1:37 left both Eyssimont and Rodrigues were sent to the box for matching roughing penalties to keep it 5 on 4. Still, Sam Reinhart passed up ice to a wide open Lundell who buried the shorthanded goal to seemingly ice the game. That was it for the second period with the Panthers up 4-2.
The first five minutes of the third period were uneventful but then Gustav Forsling was sent to the penalty box for tripping to put the Bruins on the power play. The Bruins failed to cash in but struck pay dirt almost immediately after the penalty expired. With just under 8 minutes gone, Hampus Lindholm dished it to Charlie McAvoy. McAvoy threw it in front where it deflected of the stick of Mark Kastelic and in for Mark's 9th goal of the season. With 10:25 left in the game, Arvidsson broke free for a breakaway but Verhaeghe slashed him in front of the net to draw a penalty. Just nine seconds later, Morgan Geekie dished it to Pastrnak in front of the net. Bob stopped his shot but Middlestadt banged in the rebound to tie the game on his 12th goal of the season. With 4:17 left, Luostarinen got nabbed for high sticking to give the Bruins one final power play. Once again Reinhart broke free for a shorthanded breakaway but Korpisalo stopped this one.
Bruins tie it up
With 37 seconds gone in overtime, Reinhart dished it to a wide open Lundell but Korpisalo made a big save. Nothing else happened and it was on to the shootout. Lundell went first and scored on Korpisalo only for Arvidsson to score to tie it up. Both Reinhart & Tkachuk missed but so did Khusnutdinov and Middlestadt. Naturally, who else but Marchand scored the game winner to win the game for Florida 5-4 in a shootout.
Reaction:
No matter where they are in the standings, the Bruins absolutely cannot beat the Panthers. It was nice to see them rally down 4-2 but they gave up way too many shorthanded opportunities. Korpisalo may have allowed 4 goals but he wasn't the problem here. He bailed them out plenty of times as well. Also maybe its time Marco Sturm stops going to the scrubs in the shootout and sends guys like Geekie, Pastrnak and Minten out there. There's only 25 games left in the season and every point matters. The Bruins getting 2 instead of 1 would have put them in a better position in the standings not just now but when all is said and done. The difference is this year the Bruins have guys like Kastelic, Jeannot and Zadorov to match up against Florida's goons and pests like Marchand & Tkachuk. Now the Bruins will be a team divided as the Olympics are upon us. Brad Marchand goes to active duty with Team Canada while Pastrnak joins Slovakia. Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman join Team USA, Henri Jokiharju and Korpisalo join Finland while Elias & Hampus Lindholm join Team Sweden. The rest get to take a week vacation. The Bruins did get a point in this one, putting them 2 points behind Montreal for the third seed and 3 behind the Detroit Red Wings for the second. The Bruins don't play as a team until February 26th against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Good luck to everyone in the Olympics.
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