Panthers put Bruins on notice in first showdown of new season

So, that’s what a freight train looks like.

Watching the Panthers on Wednesday probably felt similar to how many feel when watching an on-their-game Bruins team. I mean, it’s actually probably how Florida fans felt for the opening 20 minutes of Wednesday’s head-to-head between the Atlantic foes, actually, as the Bruins took it to the undefeated Panthers for almost an entire period.

But when the Panthers forced a break to go their way as Sam Reinhart simply outworked Boston’s biggest forward (Charlie Coyle) and second-biggest defenseman (Derek Forbort) in a board battle while the Panthers made a change and immediately scored the game-tying goal, you saw a juiced-up Florida team find their footing and simply crank it up.

“It was a tough one,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said of the game-tying goal. “They didn’t have a whole lot going. And now they’ve got life coming out of the first period. That’s a goal that shouldn’t have happened.”

That’s just how it goes when you’re feeling it like the Panthers have been since the puck dropped on the new season.

“Our first was excellent. It was 1-1, but we felt pretty good about our game,” said Cassidy. “All the things we did well in the first, specifically manage the puck against a good offensive team, we did the exact opposite in the second period. It started right away. Below the goal line breakouts, got pinned in our end, forced some plays.”

As the Bruins were limited to just two shots in the second period, Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (29 saves) came up with some monstrous stops for Florida, including a denial on an Erik Haula breakaway and a 10-bell stop on Brad Marchand. The Bruins also shot themselves in the foot in the third period, as David Pastrnak didn’t get a shot or a pass off on a two-on-one with Marchand and as Charlie McAvoy got overeager and promptly torched by Anthony Duclair.

“It just snowballed and then you get into chasing the game,” Cassidy said. “And that’s where it got away from us.”

The positive the Bruins can take from this game is that they hung with one of, if not the, best team in the NHL for almost an entire game. An extra save or two or a bit more finish and this game probably goes to overtime. It’s also insanely early, and this was just the first of what will be about a dozen or so ‘measuring stick’ games in an 82-game season.

But one thing’s for sure: these Cats aren’t sneakin’ up on the Bruins.

“They’ve put pieces in place here,” Cassidy noted. “They’ve got a proven coaching staff, they’ve got a goaltender who’s had a lot of success [and] has won a Vezina with a young kid right behind him. Their pieces are in place [but] we’ve got a lot of good pieces in place. We got outplayed a little. It wasn’t like one team dominated. We each had our way in a period.

“In the third, they did what they had to do to put the game away. It just came down to a couple plays at each end where they got a save or they finished. That’s what it came down to. Could’ve easily been the other way.”

The Bruins will get their chance to prove that to be true with a rematch between the sides this Saturday in Boston.

Here are some other thoughts and notes from a 4-1 loss in Sunrise…

• Jack Studnicka doesn’t quite make the grade in second-line audition

  Share

  Bruins prospect Jack Studnicka's move up to the second line between Taylor Hall and Charlie Coyle did not come with the immediate success that the 22-year-old hoped for entering Wednesday's contest.
  
  Deployed for 10:17 (second-lowest among all Bruins), Studnicka finished the loss with one assist, two shots, and two hits, and with Cassidy admitting that it just wasn't his night.
  
  “He’s had better games," Cassidy said when asked to assess Studnicka's play. "It’s not an easy league to win [in], and this is a really good team. We knew that. There’s a reason why we’re trying to work up to it. Their line didn’t have much going on. At the end of the day, in general, they didn’t seem to get a lot going. And he’s just one of the three pieces.”
  
  Maybe I'm crazy, but I want to see this line get another crack on Thursday night. We're approaching sink or swim time with Studnicka in terms of getting a read on his ceiling at the NHL level, so a little patience may go a long way.

• B’s power play truly needs more work

  Share

  One trend I'm noticing through five games with this Bruins team: They're struggling to even get on the power play.
  
  Through five games, the Bruins have a league-low 11 power-play opportunities. Now, some of that obviously has to do with their limited games played compared to the rest of the league. But break it down by per game and the Bruins are averaging 2.2 power-play opportunities per game (only the Golden Knights have averaged fewer nightly opportunities, at 2.14 per game). The Bruins are also (and perhaps naturally) averaging a league-low 3:32 of power-play action per night.
  
  That's a major problem.
  
  In addition to these being a tremendous resource for the Bruins in recent seasons (the Bruins' 157 power play goals from 2018 through 2021 were the second-most in hockey), but the Bruins are also trying to integrate Charlie McAvoy and Taylor Hall as fixtures into their top power-play unit. And this lack of familiarity and opportunity is beginning to look like a minus.
  
  There's also been an alarming trend of the Bruins surrendering high-quality looks or finding themselves forced to take a penalty to deny a high-quality look while up a man. It was happening in the preseason and it's now happening in the regular season. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Bruins are averaging 16.9 shots against per 60 minutes of power-play time this season. That's the fourth-highest mark in the NHL. The Bruins are also allowing 6.76 high-danger chances against per 60 minutes of power-play time, which is the second-worst, trailing only Carolina's 8.6.
  
  But it can't get any better if they're averaging two chances a night.
  
  That's on the Bruins to correct, honestly.
  
  While there's been a few instances of missed calls — Charlie Coyle took a Florida stick to the face and was bloodied while every official's arms remained down and Taylor Hall got tripped without a call on Wednesday night — the Bruins can help themselves by playing with the same clean-but-aggressive style you saw on Sunday. Just look at the way Connor Clifton got under the collective skin of the Sharks with his physicality and how net-front scrambles and hard drives sent them into a frenzy by the second and third period. The Bruins have the bodies to play that style and one would argue that they have to.
  
  Cassidy has also stressed the need for his team to instill some anxiety and frustration in the opposition by playing behind the opposition's defense. That will naturally lead to extended O-zone time, which will lead to chances against tired and desperate bodies, and tired and desperate bodies love to take penalties.

• Joel Quenneville should’ve excused himself from this game

  Share

  This week has seen both the NHL and the Blackhawks rocked by a terrible scandal with the report and investigation that revealed that then-video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted a Black Ace (known simply as 'John Doe') during the team's run to the 2010 Stanley Cup.
  
  The gory details of the investigation, which were made public this week, are equally hard to stomach and process.
  
  On Wednesday night, in an emotional and at times tough to watch interview with TSN's Rick Westhead, ex-Blackhawks prospect and 2008 first-round pick Kyle Beach came forward as "John Doe."
  
  If you watched that interview or simply read the report, it wouldn't take you long to realize that ex-Blackhawks coach and now Panthers coach Joel Quenneville should have made the decision to sit out Wednesday's contest.
  
  Especially as we've witnessed the fallout of this investigation; Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac, two of the executives with the Blackhawks in 2010 and still with them as of last week, have either resigned or been relieved of their duties. The belief is that they knew about what happened and did nothing to address it and help Beach. Another man who allegedly knew but did not act or help Beach: Quenneville.
  
  And any statement to the contrary is an outright lie, according to Beach.
  
  "Now in statements that came out in the release, Stan Bowman has quoted Joel Quenneville saying – and this is not a quote, this is my words – that the playoffs, the Stanley Cup playoffs and trying to win a Stanley Cup was more important than sexual assault," an emotional Beach told Westhead. "And I can’t believe that. As a human being, I cannot believe that, and I cannot accept that.
  
  "I’ve witnessed meetings, right after I reported it to James Gary, that were held in Joel Quenneville’s office. There’s absolutely no way that [Quenneville] can deny knowing it and there’s absolutely no way that Stan Bowman would make up a quote like that, to somebody who served his organization and his team so well."
  
  It was all more than enough to make any shot of Quenneville behind the Florida leave a bad taste in your mouth.
  
  But it actually got worse when Quenneville opted out of his postgame media availability and let Panthers general manager Bill Zito issue a statement instead. I mean, that's just weak and borderline unacceptable. You can't claim that no involvement or knowledge and say it's not a distraction, coach a game, and then run away from answering any questions about Kyle Beach and the incident. It's an attempt at burying accountability and the subject as a whole in the name of winning games, which was the whole problem (beyond the obvious) in the first place.
  
  It is worth wondering if Wednesday will be Q's last game behind a bench, too, as he's slated to meet with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to discuss the 2010 incident. The sad reality in all of this is that I'm not even sure Quenneville's future job status is even up for a debate if the Panthers were simply mediocre and not off to this start.

Sports Hub Underground Podcast: Trouble with the Bruins, Patriots, and Tow Trucks

Click here for 98.5 The Sports Hub’s complete coverage of the Bruins.

Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.