At the risk of stating the absolute obvious here, Tuesday’s showdown between the Bruins and Panthers down in Sunrise was the most important game of the season for the hot-and-cold Bruins.
But not because it was a ‘winner grabs sole possession of first place for now’ contest.
Instead, it was because we simply needed to see how the Bruins responded to what was without question Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery’s sharpest public criticism of his team. ‘Mired’ in a two-game slide, Montgomery absolutely laid into his team during a Monday practice in Brighton, and didn’t hold back when he got to the podium and fielded questions shortly after practiced wrapped. He even went as far as to say that his team was not ready for the playoffs.
If you’ve heard a Montgomery press conference or any sort of interview for more than 10 seconds, you’d absolutely pick up on the rarity of it all. Montgomery keeps everything inside the B’s locker room. Even when he wants to criticize a player, he’ll often let some of his thoughts slip, but catch himself before he goes fully in on a player. You can’t blame him there. It’s a reason why the guy who held Montgomery’s job before him got his walking papers despite some strong results.
So, for Montgomery to take the kid gloves off and go in on his team ahead of their flight to Sunrise, it meant something.
Bruins continue to save best for Cats
SUNRISE, FLORIDA – MARCH 26: Brandon Montour #62 of the Florida Panthers pushes Charlie Coyle #13 of the Boston Bruins during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena on March 26, 2024 in Sunrise, Florida. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
If you were asking me to name you the top five Bruins victories of the season, I’m not gonna lie, I probably put all three of the Black and Gold’s wins over the Panthers to date in the top five. They may even make up one, two, and three.
I say that not because of any ‘revenge’ for the Bruins. (There’s absolutely zero chance that a regular season victory will make up for the Panthers ousting the historically-good Bruins from the playoffs in the first round. It’s just not possible.) But rather because of how the Bruins have beaten the Panthers in their three outings this season.
If we go back to their first meeting of the season, the Bruins had to erase a two-goal deficit and they did exactly that before they sunk the Panthers in overtime. Going back to their November head-to-head with the Panthers down in Sunrise, the Bruins weathered some serious early storms before they put together their best third-period effort of the season in what finished as a 3-1 final over Florida. And Tuesday brought about something similar, as the Bruins clawed their way back into this game and really gave the Panthers almost nothing over the final half of the game.
These have felt like true playoff games, and they’ve been played with the style the B’s will need to embrace if they’re going to make any noise and have any hopes of advancing out of the Atlantic bracket this spring.
But there’s also something I’ve found somewhat telling about these showdowns.
We all know that the Panthers are a team that loves to muck it up. Their willingness to be PITAs of the highest order, led by their stars like Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett, has made them one of the league’s top threats. If there’s smoke to be found, the Panthers not only want it but they’re in the thick of it. Like an Edge at Wrestlemania entrance.
But here’s something else that’s interesting about that: The Bruins, routinely criticized for being too soft and not having the marbles to play this style, have somehow found the perfect time to respond and shut that bleep down.
In that November game in Sunrise, the Panthers tried running Charlie McAvoy into the boards to extract some revenge for McAvoy’s cheap hit on Oliver Ekman-Larsson until McAvoy was willing to put an end to the nonsense and drop the gloves. The Panthers did not take him up on that offer and stopped targeting him after that. And when Derek Forbort dropped the gloves in the second period of that game, the Panthers were straight-up silenced and really didn’t make any sort of noise (and were doubled up in shots and goals) until they pulled the goalie with two minutes to go.
Tuesday came with something similar, too. In what was a highly-combustible night at the rink, Bruins captain Brad Marchand simply had enough of the Panthers’ net-front pushing and shoving and decided to have a go with the Panthers’ Niko Mikkola. Marchand didn’t care that he was giving up over half a foot in that scrap. He wanted to make a statement.
NOW MARCHAND AND MIKKOLA DROP THE GLOVES 😳 pic.twitter.com/sjKFMCWLem
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 27, 2024And following Marchand’s tussle with Mikkola, Bruins out-hit Panthers 10-5, and outscored them 1-0 over the final 9:17 of the second period. In fact, from that point on, the Panthers mustered just four shots on goal until they pulled Sergei Bobrovsky for the extra attacker with two and a half minutes remaining in the game.
The Panthers play a chaotic game, and there’s simply no denying that. But the Bruins have found a way to tame it down to a dull roar, both from a physicality standpoint and a shots-on-goal standpoint, as the Panthers (who lead the East in shots per game this season) are averaging just 28.43 shots per game against the Bruins this season (their third-fewest against any opponent this season).
McAvoy leads way on backend
Mar 26, 2024; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) shoots and scores a goal past Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) in the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Jim Rassol/USA TODAY Sports)
In a night headlined by Boston’s leaders doing exactly that, Charlie McAvoy got things cooking for the Bruins with his first-period marker, and added an assist on the David Pastrnak goal that made it 2-2 in the second period of play.
Charlie McAvoy with his 10th goal of the season. pic.twitter.com/AZjISUcxz9
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) March 26, 2024His goal also continued what’s a rather interesting trend of sorts for the Bruins, as this year’s B’s squad is now 20-1-2 when they have at least one goal from a defenseman in a game. That record improves to 8-0-1 if you boil it down to McAvoy being the Bruins defenseman to score a goal in that game, too.
McAvoy impacted the game beyond his goal and assist, too, as he finished with six hits and three blocks in over 25 minutes of time on ice in this contest. It was as complete an effort as you’re gonna get from No. 73, and continued what was a strong showing against the Flyers last Saturday.
It goes without saying that the Bruins absolutely need this version of McAvoy down the stretch and into the playoffs. He can be a true gamebreaker for this club as a defenseman who can get it done in all three zones and bring the heavy and the nasty in addition to offensive instincts no other B’s defender currently possesses.
A huge night for B’s best one-two punch
SUNRISE, FLORIDA – MARCH 26: The Boston Bruins celebrate a second period goal by David Pastrnak #88 (2nd from right) against the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on March 26, 2024 in Sunrise, Florida. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Similarly, what an absolutely MONSTROUS game it was up front for both David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha.
Beginning with Pastrnak, it was Pastrnak who delivered a solid reverse hit on Matthew Tkachuk to help the Bruins maintain possession in the Florida zone en route to McAvoy’s goal. And on the second goal, Pastrnak’s forechecked forced Niko Mikkola to hurry a rim along the wall that was picked off by McAvoy and ultimately fed back to the net for Pastrnak’s second-period strike. Pastrnak also came through with the primary helper on Zacha’s game-winning goal, and made two massive late-game plays with the Florida net empty, with a huge defensive-zone clear with the Panthers swarming on Jeremy Swayman’s net and then a strong pesterin’ to deny the Panthers one last clean entry.
Overall, Pastrnak was on the ice for all four of Boston’s goals in this one, and was on the ice for zero goals against.
Zacha, meanwhile, collected a goal and an assist and won 11 of his 14 battles at the dot, including a 5-for-5 mark in the attacking zone. Zacha also went a combined 5-for-5 against the Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart.
These guys may very well hold the key to Boston’s playoff run.
Is it time to give Lindholm-Carlo a breather?
SUNRISE, FLORIDA – MARCH 26: Brandon Carlo #25 of the Boston Bruins hits Matthew Tkachuk #19 of the Florida Panthers during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena on March 26, 2024 in Sunrise, Florida. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Last week, I had a simple question for Bruins coach Jim Montgomery. I asked him how he felt about the grind that’s been put on his go-to shutdown pairing of Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo. Fed hard assignment after hard assignment night after night with no relenting, I wondered if that grind was beginning to take its toll on the duo.
Montgomery admitted that he had two separate, long conversations with Carlo just checking in on him and making sure he’s good, but that he had no worries about his second pairing because of his belief in them. And while I share his belief that this duo can and has been good given their insane deployment from a difficulty-of-assignment standpoint, I do wonder if the Bruins should consider splitting them up for a little bit.
Together for almost 13 minutes of five-on-five time Tuesday night, the Lindholm-Carlo pairing was on the ice for two goals against, while the Panthers held a 10-2 on-ice advantage in shots with the duo on the ice. Of course, the Lindholm-Carlo was once again given a huge assignment, as they spent the majority of their evening against the Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk line, but the goals against are beginning to stack up.
Since Lindholm returned to the lineup on Mar. 9, the Lindholm-Carlo pairing has been tagged for nine goals against in just under 107 minutes of five-on-five play. The Bruins, meanwhile, have surrendered just six goals in 234 minutes of five-on-five play with Lindholm and Carlo off the ice over that span.
The continued insane usage of Lindholm-Carlo as a defense-first pairing certainly has something to do with that (their 9.09 offensive-zone faceoff percentage is the lowest in the league among pairings with at least 100 minutes since Mar. 9, with the second-lowest pairing checking in at 31.18 percent), but the Bruins may be hitting a point where it’s in their best interest to see if they can split these guys up to get ’em both going as individuals.
Now, what I will say is that I do think this was a better game for Lindholm that the numbers will show. At least when it came to his second-half recovery, I thought he had a strong defensive-zone play behind the Boston net to deny a Sam Reinhart chance in the middle frame, and Lindholm came through with a key block on Tkachuk in the waning moments of this victory with the Florida net empty. Carlo, meanwhile, was part of the late-game kill that left the Panthers mad as hell, and was the focal point of Tkachuk’s post-loss hissy fit (meaning he did his job).
Of course, maybe this is nothing more than a pairing not getting the saves or shutdowns that they’re used to — or, again, the natural perils of being a defense-first pairing and the inevitable on-ice exposure it comes with — but these are two defenders the Bruins can’t afford to lose from a confidence standpoint between now and Game 1.
Everything else
SUNRISE, FLORIDA – MARCH 26: Charlie McAvoy #73 celebrates his goal at 17:43 of the first period against the Florida Panthers and is joined by Pavel Zacha #18 and David Pastrnak #88 at Amerant Bank Arena on March 26, 2024. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
– Not his finest work when you look at the 18-for-21 line in the box score, but a strong finish from the Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman in this one. Swayman, who was effectively burned on his first shot faced and then again a minute after the Bruins tied things up, finished strong and kept the Panthers at bay in the second half of this game. The defensive effort in front of him helped, sure, but Swayman simply needed a dub in the worst way. He got it, and it included a big-time save with the Bruins clinging to their one-goal lead in the final minute of play. Now comes building on this.
– There’s absolutely zero reason for the Bruins to take Johnny Beecher out of their lineup. Another strong night in an extremely limited role, with Beecher on the board with one hit, two shots, and wins in seven of his nine faceoffs in 9:30. If you ask me, it’s down to Jakub Lauko, James van Riemsdyk, and the wild card Pat Maroon for one spot in the lineup.
– In 11:43 of five-on-five play, the Parker Wotherspoon and Andrew Peeke pairing held a 5-2 on-ice edge in shots, and 1-0 edge in on-ice goals. This has been the best of the three different third pairings the Bruins have trotted out since acquiring Peeke from the Blue Jackets at the trade deadline.
