Flat offense and pair of defensive lapses lead to Florida Panthers’ loss to Bruins

Sergei Bobrovsky stood tall on Brad Marchand’s wrist shot from the right circle early in the second period with the puck bouncing off his chest.

The Florida Panthers’ goaltender couldn’t get back in position quick enough for the second effort that came directly in front of him by Jake DeBrusk.

DeBrusk’s rebound goal put the Boston Bruins in front for good as they beat the Panthers 4-2 at TD Garden on Tuesday.

The Panthers (57-17-6), after winning 13 consecutive games, have now lost back-to-back games for the first time since losing three consecutive games in late February.

Bobrovsky did what he could to keep the team in the game. He finished with 34 saves on 37 shots against, but the first two goals he allowed — which came in a six-second span in the first period — were in large part due to defensive lapses in front of him.

It started with Erik Haula beating Bobrovsky from the right side on an odd-man rush with 3:42 left in the period. Radko Gudas tried to lay a hit on Taylor Hall at the blue line at the start of the Bruins’ rush attempt. Hall spun past him as he sent the puck to David Pastrnak, who fed the puck across the crease to Haula for the wrist shot.

On the ensuing faceoff, Hall broke past the Panthers’ defense and fired a wrist shot from the slot to give the Bruins a lead with 3:36 left in the period.

Brad Marchand added an empty-net goal for Boston (50-25-5) with 3:05 left in regulation for the final two-goal margin.

“I thought he was dialed in right from the start,” Panthers interim coach Andrew Brunette said. “We weren’t very good in front of him, especially in the first. He kept us in the game.”

Florida’s normally high-octane offense was held to just 21 shots and two goals on Tuesday, both of which came in the first period. Gustav Forsling opened scoring eight minutes into regulation with an unassisted wrist shot from near the blue line. Sam Reinhart closed scoring in the frame when he poked the puck past Linus Ullmark with 0.6 seconds left in the period after the Panthers nine seconds into a Florida power play to the the game at 2-2 after 20 minutes.

They wouldn’t score the rest of the game.

Playoff tracking

The Panthers’ loss on Tuesday does nothing in terms of their playoff standing. Florida already has the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference clinched and still has a chance to win the Presidents’ Trophy, given to the club that finishes the regular season with the best overall record, and get home-ice advance throughout the entirety of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

However, the result — coupled with two other final scores Tuesday — did give the Panthers some clarity as to who they might face in the first round.

With Boston winning and both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals losing in regulation, Florida will host either Pittsburgh or Washington based on how both teams finish their regular-season schedules.

Pittsburgh has 101 points with one game left on its schedule — Friday at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Washington has 100 points with two games remaining — road contests against the New York Islanders on Thursday and New York Rangers on Friday. Whichever team finishes with the fewest points will be the Eastern Conference’s second wild card and face Florida in the first round.

Verhaeghe returns

Carter Verhaeghe returned to the Panthers’ lineup on Tuesday after missing the past three games. He took his usual spot as the left wing on Florida’s top line with Aleksander Barkov and Clauder Giroux.

Joe Thornton also slotted into the lineup against the Bruins, serving as the left wing on Florida’s fourth line with center Eetu Luostarinen and right wing Patric Hornqvist. Maxim Mamin (maintenance) and Ryan Lomberg (suspension) were out.

Lundell, Gudas exit

Center Anton Lundell left Tuesday’s game early in the second period with an upper-body injury. Defenseman Radko Gudas also missed the third period with a lower-body injury.

Brunette described both injuries as “little tweaks” and their removal from the game precautionary.

“We’re obviously trying to be smart and ahead of the curve a little bit here,” Brunette said.

Next up

The Panthers finish the regular season with a back-to-back against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday and Montreal Canadiens on Friday.

This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 9:44 PM.

Jordan McPherson

Miami Herald

305-376-2129

Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.