‘We can hang with these guys,’ Matthew Tkachuk says after Panthers’ Game 1 loss in Boston
The Florida Panthers’ first-round series with the Boston Bruins could have gone one of two ways. Either the 43-point disparity between the Panthers and Bruins in the regular season would predict a lopsided series, or Florida and Boston, the last two Presidents’ Trophy winners, would play something more competitive than those final standings might suggest.
After one game, Matthew Tkachuk feels confident this series is heading toward the latter, even with his team down 1-0.
“We can hang with these guys,” the superstar right wing said Monday after the Panthers’ 3-1 loss to the Bruins in the first game of Round 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Throw out the final score — and even a two-goal game is competitive — and these teams were about as evenly matched as possible. Florida outshot Boston 32-29 and had a 33-28 edge in scoring chances and 15-11 advantage in high-danger chances. The Panthers outhit the Bruins 44-33, and Boston had a 20-16 edge in blocks and won 52 percent of faceoffs. In expected goals, the two were separated by less than one, with Florida holding a slight edge.
The first game of the series, at least, was the type of game either team could have won, and the Bruins pulled it out in Boston.
Maybe it’s how this series will go — the Bruins did, after all, set an NHL record for regular-season wins this year and might just be so good along the margins they will win every close game — or maybe, as the Panthers hope, Florida can make a few adjustments, steal Game 2 from the Bruins on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Massachusetts to even the series and start building toward a historic upset.
“We’ll get better every game,” coach Paul Maurice said Monday.
The Panthers will have to because their performance Monday, even though most of the predictive statistics say Florida should have won, weren’t good enough to beat a historically good team on the road.
The Panthers had more shots than Boston, but 21 of 32 came in the first 30 minutes. Florida had more chances and high-danger chances than the Bruins, but Boston had maybe the three best ones in the game, only to have goaltender Alex Lyon deny those odd-man rushes. The Bruins won the game by limiting the Panthers’ really dangerous chances and going 1 of 2 on the power play, while Florida went 0 of 2.
Their other two goals came on some lucky breaks — one was perhaps the worst goal Lyon has allowed all month and the other came after the puck sat on the goalie’s pad, leaving him unable to find it and cover it up in a scrum — and goals like those are unlikely to keep happening, but they were able to be the difference because of how Boston shut down the Panthers.
Tkachuk scored Florida’s only goal, unassisted on a breakaway in the second period just a few minutes after the Bruins went up 2-0. As good as they were at carving out space around All-Star goaltender Linus Ullmark, the Panthers ultimately didn’t turn it into enough consistent offense.
“That was the strength of our game. ... We were able to get some chaos in front of their net,” Maurice said. “We can make a few adjustments on our positioning there to get us just a chance to get us more rebound chances and things.”
It’s an OK place for Florida to start from. The Panthers mostly played the offensive style Maurice wants and the five rush chances they gave up, he thinks, are something they can clean up. They also have full faith in Lyon — Maurice gave the 30-year-old American an “A-plus” grade for his first NHL playoff game — and could get center Sam Bennett back sometime this week after he took part in a morning skate Monday at the Garden.
Of course, Boston will make changes, too, and should get center Patrice Bergeron back soon after he missed Game 1 with an illness.
This series, though, was never going to be anything but extremely difficult for Florida to win. In Game 1, the Panthers at least played like they could.
“I’m confident in our team, in our game,” Tkachuk said. “I was happy with some parts of our game. Others, we can definitely work on.”
