Tonight’s game between the two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and the Boston Bruins has gotten plenty of attention, and tonight both teams will be happy to get it out of the way.
As it turns out, the Panthers are 0-4-0 on the road coming into this one, and if I were Paul Maurice I’d whisper to every player not named Brad Marchand that, if they want to honor him tonight, win the … game. The Tampa Bay Lightning were 0-3 when they came into TD Garden on Columbus Day and took two points from the 3-0 Bruins. That was the first of four straight regulation losses for Boston. The B’s don’t want to let it get to five.
Florida’s invincibility on home ice has also defined the earliest stages of the Panthers’ absurd attempt to become the NHL’s first team to make four straight Stanley Cup finals since the 1980-84 New York Islanders (5). And in the salary-cap era, no less.
A big part of Florida’s third-straight trip to the Cup final – something we hadn’t seen in full-length, normal, 82-game seasons since the 84-85 Edmonton Oilers – was Marchand, acquired from Boston at the March 7 trade deadline for a conditional draft pick that will be a first-rounder when it comes around.
Marchand got a rousing ovation from Boston and Florida fans alike, as he was last to leave the rink after the pregame warmup.
The Bruins, also 3-4-0, are on a four-game pointless streak – in old-school terms, that’s a losing streak – and while Coach Marco Sturm praised his team’s effort in the last loss at Utah, there is a sense of urgency building around the Bruins.
The theory has been (and will still be) that elite goaltending, solid defense and a hardnosed, structured approach by the forward lines is a credible recipe for a push for a playoff spot. The obvious lack of scoring depth has yet to result in a shakeup, but Casey Mittelstadt was scratched in Salt Lake City.
After their 3-0-0 start went up on smoke, the Bruins need a turnaround in terms of results. But it’s going to be a challenge against an equally desperate team with a giant hole in its lineup named Sasha Barkov.
Rink Rap has stated that there are three players the Panthers cannot contend without: Barkov, Sam Bennett and Sergei Bobrovsky. Barkov (ACL) in training camp could miss the entire season.
Line charts are coming by faceoff.
As promised …
FIRST PERIOD
Marchand impacts the game on the opening shift, drawing a tripping penalty on Tanner Jeannot and then helping the powerplay generate the go-ahead goal by Mackie Samoskevich only 1:01 into the action. Marchand earned the primary assist.
The Bruins got a powerplay opportunity 27 seconds later when David Pastrnak drew a tripping penalty on goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
Carter Verhaeghe served the Bobrovsky penalty, and sprinted across to the visiting bench upon its expiration.
Rink Rap: Another game missed by Hampus Lindholm, which means another game of Mason Lohrei with Charlie McAvoy. It was suggested to me that the Bruins should consider moving Lohrei up to left wing and see if his offensive skills can translate to scoring depth. The defense would presumably be backfilled with a better defensive defenseman such as Michael Callahan. The left wing has been shaken up, but Sturm has done what Jim Montgomery did a year ago in moving Pavel Zacha from LW to center, where his superior skating and overall effort on both sides of the puck offer stability where it was lacking. Twelve months later, different coaches and several new players, but it has been the same problem with, for now, the same solution. Mittelstadt, scratched in Utah, is back in the lineup, albeit on LW. Marat Khusnutdinov is a healthy scratch.
TV timeout at 9:21 of the opening period, and up comes the Marchand tribute video. TD Garden roars its approval. 63 takes a little twirl as both teams bang sticks on the boards and the crowd issues its loudest sustained ovation of the season. Marchand is visibly emotional at the response.
Back to business midway through the first period.
Twice the Bruins take advantage of seams in the neutral zone, but neither leads to a shot at Bobrovsky. Pastrnak made a beautiful backhand pass to catch Morgan Geekie in stride, and he was in his favorable, stick-inside position but misfired, the puck sliding sideways off his stick. Zacha similarly found Mittelstadt but with less space and not as cleanly. The Panthers recovered to close out the chance before Mittelstadt could make a play on the puck.
Jonah Gadjovich and Jeffrey Viel drop the gloves. It’s a draw, despite the TD Garden roar when Gadjovich was first to lose balance and fall to the ice. 5 each for fighting (semi-dramatic referee gesture here).
Shots after one period: 7-6 Florida, but the greater takeaway was the frequent adventure the Bruins faced coming out of their own end, whereas it was rare that Panthers were not able to efficiently shut down whatever the Bruins hoped to sustain in their zone and gain a stress-free zone exit.
Meantime, the emotions surrounding Marchand’s return sparked conversation that led to this evolution of how the National Hockey League markets its game and its stars.
Phil Esposito, the greatest offensive machine in hockey history, was at the sunset of his prime when he was dealt by Harry Sinden to the New York Rangers in the fall of 1975, redefining both the Bruins and the Rangers. Wearing No. 5 – or was it 12? – he wore both before becoming the NHL’s first No. 77 in Ranger blue. But with little fanfare – there were no video tributes in the 1970s – Espo came back to play against the Bruins, had a few laughs with the Boston fans, and went on his less-than-merry way. Things got a lot more serious for Espo when the Rangers got good and, the season after upsetting the pre-dynastic Islanders and making the 1979 Stanley Cup final, he had a breakaway on Gerry Cheevers at Madison Square Garden. His old teammate read the play and, in vintage Cheesy style, came out of his net to deny Espo a good look. The buzzer sounded, the Bruins were winners, and Cheevers patted Espo on the tailpad. The big guy then smashed his stick to smithereens on the ice and stomped down the tunnel, only to return after – yes, it was this game – he learned that an altercation had taken place after the game, the one that soon morphed into a Bruins vs. the MSG crowd incident featuring Mike Milbury and the shoe. Given Esposito’s legacy number as a Ranger was 77, it suddenly feels kind of ironic that Ray Bourque took on No. 77 at Espo’s No. 7 retirement ceremony in Dec. 1987, at the old Boston Garden.
As Marchand would tonight, so did Bourque have a comeback game with the Colorado Avalanche. No. 77 suddenly appeared in these parts in half-Avalanche/half-Bruins colors – someone’s creative idea and sewing machine led to a marketing campaign. Bourque sprinted from the runway onto the ice in the maroon and blue of the Avs, his own way of dealing with the emotion.
When Joe Thornton returned to Boston after the blockbuster that sent him to San Jose, he ran Bruins defenseman Hal Gill, incurring 5 and a game early in the first period. Despite being in the new arena a decade, the Bruins I don’t recall running tribute videos for former Bruins like they have in the years since winning the Stanley Cup.
Zdeno Chara made an appearance in Boston while playing for – was it the Capitals or the Islanders? – somehow that most-recent returns seems less vivid.
SECOND PERIOD
Mittelstadt gets another quality look on the rush. This time he gets away a shot, but Bobrovsky gobbles it up.
The Panthers pad their lead at 2:01 of the second period, former Bruin A.J. Greer scoring from in tight to make it 2-0. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Bruins management must shake their heads at what a useful player Greer has become to the Panthers. He was a dumb penalty waiting to happen in Boston.
Fraser Minten had a D-zone draw won against Like Kunin, both when Jeannot and Lohrei both clasped their sticks onto the free puck and reached a stalemate, the Panthers swept in and took it to the net, Greer scoring. The fourth line.
Bruins get a chance, shot goes wide, crowd groans.
Verhaeghe has a 2-on-1 with Marchand, forces the pass which Nikita Zadorov denies.
The Bruins are trying to make some O-zone hits on their dump-in’s. That should not be a second-period resolution, definitely not against these guys.
Marchand(!) off for hooking.
The Bruins patiently work the puck while the crowd groans for a shot, and they almost have the perfect set-up, but it’s denied and cleared. 51 seconds remain on the man advantage.
Mikey Eyssimont gets a chance on the second unit, as Sturm looks to double up on tenacity with Viktor Arvidsson, but Anton Lundell reads Eyssimont’s drop pass for the right point, and there goes the rest of the powerplay.
Zadorov supports the attack, takes a nice pass from Pastrnak and tests Bobrovsky. Save.
Bruins get another powerplay, as defenseman Niko Mikkola is off for tripping.
Marchand raises hell at the end of the powerplay after a Mittelstadt-Lohrei mixup, passing off a glittering chance. The play had shorty written all over it, but Marchand passed.
Eyssimont digs and digs, sets up a scoring chance that Jeannot tips wide under coverage – nice try, as the effort picks up in the attacking zone. Eyssimont and Minten are at the post, but the puck enters late, according to the on-ice officials. It’s a TV timeout, so difficult to know if the Bruins have officially challenged. We will receive notification after the fact if so.
No goal, faceoff outside the blue line.
No surprise on that outcome, but of significance is the Bruins’ uptick in intensity.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a game in which the Bruins threw so many touchdown-pass attempts. Until Eyssimont and Minten were jamming at the crease on the last shift, the long pass has been the sum total of the Bruins’ offensive threat in this game.
Mark Kastelic from the right gets a dangerous rebound that Sean Kuraly tries to control. The puck slides slowly past the far post and is cleared. The Bruins are trying hard to get on the board here.
Zacha reached on Kunin and goes to the box for hooking with 2:25 left in the second. A PPG here would let the air out of everything the Bruins have done well in this period.
Final minute and Eetu Luostarinen gets between McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman, who makes the save BUT Elias Lindholm to the box for hooking with 16.8 seconds left in the second period.
Shots through two: 18-16 Boston.
Lindholm has 1:44 remaining on his PIM when the third period begins.
THIRD PERIOD
Bruins get the kills.
Mittelstadt slides the puck across to Zacha and 2:46 into the third period the Bruins are on the board, 2-1 Florida.
Mikkola off for crosschecking. TD Garden has come alive.
Pastrnak through a screen, and it’s 2-2 with 15:14 left in the third period.
Viel is on the ice fighting Sam Bennett, and Kastelic was tied up with another Panther. Sam Reinhart also in the box, and Zadorov for Boston. Offsetting roughing minors for all four.
The Bruins’ left side is severely compromised without Zadorov available.
McAvoy high slot, save Bob.
Now every play is a potential scrum, as Aaron Ekblad clinches up a Bruin, drawing Kastelic’s attention.
Arvidsson is having his best game.
Pastrnak down on the off wing, Evan Rodrigues to the box at 6:38. Boston PP….
Poor execution on the drop pass up ice, and Luostarinen is in, Swayman sticks away his shot.
Jordan Harris eluded a Kunin hit at the Florida bench. Kunin threw himself hard into the boards.
This time, Luostarinen buries his chance at 9:58, a perfect shot stick side just inside the post. The Finnish speedster has been getting behind the Bruins D all game. 3-2 Florida. Marchand with his second assist, another primary.
We’ve got a TV timeout with 5:26 remaining, and the Bruins trailing 3-2.
It’s been a spirited game, but the Bruins have been chasing it most of the night including now.
A further Rink Rap updates can be found on X @MickColageo.
Drive safely.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 