BOSTON — The Bruins captured the first of what they hope will be 16 wins on the way to the Stanley Cup over the next two months on Monday at the Garden.
But in their first round opening game against the Florida Panthers, the B’s were reminded of just how difficult that journey will be.
The Panthers’ forecheck gave the B’s fits at times in the first two periods, but the B’s took control in the third period to grind out a 3-1 victory.
The B’s, playing without captain Patrice Bergeron, got goals from David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk and got another solid performance from Linus Ullmark (31 saves) in his first career playoff victory
As one might have expected in the first game of the playoffs, the B’s exploded out of the gate, earning two quick power plays in the first five minutes and scoring on the second one.
Tyler Bertuzzi pounced on the rebound of a David Krejci one-timer and made a beautiful backhand pass to Pastrnak for an easy goal at 5:58.
But after that, Florida settled down well and spent a good amount of time in the Bruins’ zone, holding a 15-8 shot advantage. Most of the shots came from the outside, but the B’s were having a tough time with the Florida forecheck. Still, Ullmark, playing his first game since leaving a game last Tuesday with a lower body injury, had to be sharp in the first and he was.
At the other end, the B’s had two glittering chances that the Panther goalie Alex Lyon turned away. Both opportunities came on 2-on-1s.
On the first one, Krejci set up Bertuzzi for a redirect, but Lyon flashed the right pad to kick it out. The next one came when Taylor Hall stole the puck high in the defensive zone and took off. He waited for Trent Frederic to join the play and fed him for the quick shot, but Lyon read it well and thwarted the chance.
But as well as Lyon played in the first, he had a major gaffe at 3:41 of the second. Brad Marchand took a feed from Charlie McAvoy in the neutral zone and appeared to be looking for faceoff when he took a long-distance shot from the left wing. It went off Lyon’s glove and into the net for a 2-0 lead.
At that point, the Garden fans started their “We Want the Cup” chant, but they had to slow their roll quickly.
The B’s made something out of nothing for the Panthers, as well. Dmitry Orlov went back to play a rim-around on his backhand along the right boards. Instead of moving it to a teammate, the too-cute pass went right to Matthew Tkachuk at the circle. Tkachuk did not pass up the gift, beating Ullmark under the blocker to get the Panthers back to within a goal at 6:34.
Lyon, meanwhile, looked unaffected by his bad goal when, on anothr 2-on-1, he snared Frederic’s one-timer off another Hall pass.
But the B’s got their two-goal lead back at 17:32 with some good, hard work. Pavel Zacha simply beat Sasha Barkov for a loose puck behind the net and got it out to McAvoy for a shot. Both Zacha and Betuzzi had swings at the loose puck but, with Lyon down in the butterfly position, the puck sat on the side of his pad like a golf ball on tee for Jake DeBrusk, who whacked it home.
The B’s tightened up in the third period and appeared to take a three-goal lead with 3:16 left in the third but it was called back when, after a review, it was shown that Garnet Hathaway had knocked the puck out of Lyon’s glove.
Still, the B’s gave up very little down the stretch, even with Lyon pulled for the extra skater.
