Florida Panthers blow away Bruins in third period to steal Game 2 in Boston, even series
The Florida Panthers traveled to Massachusetts for the first two games of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs eager to prove they could play with the Boston Bruins, even though the Bruins set a single-season record for wins and the Panthers didn’t qualify for the playoffs until the final days of the regular season.
They did it in Game 1 by playing a tight, highly competitive game in Boston on Monday and did even more in Game 2 on Wednesday. Florida never trailed, didn’t give up an even-strength goal until garbage time and blew away the Bruins in the third period to stun the Presidents’ Trophy winners 6-3.
Goaltender Alex Lyon, starting his 10th straight game, was again spectacular, making 34 saves on 37 shots. Center Sam Bennett, back from a 13-game injury absence, set a new tone with seven shots and the opening goal. Star defenseman Brandon Montour scored twice during the Panthers’ third-period avalanche and Florida will go back to Sunrise with the series tied 1-1.
The 43-point gap in the regular-season standings between Boston and Florida was the biggest in 27 years for a first-round series, and the Panthers — the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, who didn’t even qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs until last week — are in control after stealing away home-ice advantage from the Bruins.
If Florida just wins its three home games at FLA Live Arena, it will pull off one of the biggest upsets in NHL history.
Even though the Panthers scored six goals, the win started with Lyon, who had only played 31 NHL games in his career before taking over in net last month when star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was sick and is now the heart of the Panthers.
From the opening minutes, the crowd of 17,850 at TD Garden slowly chanted his last name — “Lyyyon! Lyyyon!” — just as it did after his one costly gaffe in the second period of Game 1, hoping, and certainly believing, the 30-year-old American would at some point start to look like the career minor-leaguer he always was until last month.
It hasn’t happened yet and it didn’t Wednesday. The goalie stopped the first 23 5-on-5 shots he faced until giving one up with a four-goal lead in the last two minutes and he kept Florida tied with Boston, 2-2, going into the third period despite continue special-teams woes for the Panthers.
The Panthers built a pair of leads in the second period, only to concede equalizers both times — once shorthanded and once on a power play.
Bennett struck first on the first 5-on-5 shift of the second period. It was a long one for Florida, with the Panthers keeping the puck in the zone through multiple Boston clearing attempts, and Bennett finished it with 18:18 left in the period when superstar right wing Matthew Tkachuk stole the puck near the blue line and found Bennett behind the defense for a driving goal.
His line — with Tkachuk on his right wing and Carter Verhaeghe to his left — outscored the Bruins, 2-0, and Florida outshot them 11-5 when Bennett was on the ice for 5-on-5 play.
He was active in the third period, too, with Verhaeghe scoring to put the Panthers up 4-2 with 13 minutes left to push Boston out of reach. Montour, whose goal in the first 30 seconds of the third period put Florida ahead for good, scored once more with 7:30 left and forward Eetu Luostarinen sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 2:25 remaining.
The Panthers got outshot in each of the first two periods, then outshot the Bruins, 10-8, in the third.
This story was originally published April 19, 2023 at 10:35 PM.
