Stanley Cup playoffs Round 2, Game 5: Boston Bruins 2, Florida Panthers 1
The series isn’t over yet.
The Florida Panthers’ couldn’t finish off the Boston Bruins in the first series-clinching opportunity of their second-round Stanley Cup playoffs series, falling 2-1 in Game 5 on Tuesday.
The Panthers still lead the best-of-7 series 3-2. Game 6 is on Friday at Boston’s TD Garden. Game time and TV information have not yet been announced
Morgan Geekie and Charlie McAvoy scored for Boston, with McAvoy’s goal at 10:25 of the second period serving as the game winner. The Panthers challenged for goaltender interference, but the call was upheld.
Sam Reinhart scored Florida’s only goal, and Sergei Bobrovsky did his part to keep Florida within a goal by stopping 25 of 27 shots he faced.
Second period thoughts
The Panthers certainly looked more like themselves in the second period and are starting to generate momentum.
According to the advanced hockey statistics website Natural Stat Trick, the Panthers had a dozen scoring chances — including five high-danger chances — in the second period.
Sam Reinhart has been a highlight overall so far for Florida. In addition to his goal, he has a game-high six shots on goal and has been great defensively.
Still, the Panthers are going to need a strong push in the third period if they want to close out this series tonight.
The “My goodness, Bob” moments have arrived
Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has already had two massive moments so far in the second period.
The first came 7:16 into the frame, when Bobrovsky stopped Trent Frederic from up close on a breakaway and then cleaned up the secondary attempt from Danton Heinen.
The second came 14-and-a-half minutes into the period. After Boston killed off a Florida power play, Bobrovsky denied a Jake DeBrusk breakaway and Frederic secondary attempt.
Bobrovsky has stopped 19 of 21 shots he has faced.
Panthers’ penalty kill continues to impress
Florida’s penalty kill is 2 for 2 so far in Game 5. What’s more, Florida has had four shots on goal while playing a man down while holding Boston to just two shots on goal on their power play.
Charlie McAvoy gives the Bruins the lead
Boston retook the lead, 2-1, on a Charlie McAvoy shot from the high slot on a feed from Charlie Coyle with 9:35 left in the second period.
The Panthers challenged for goaltender interference but the goal stood, sending the Panthers to the penalty kill.
Panthers tie it early in the second
After creating a slew of chaos in front of the net, Sam Reinhart tied the game at 1-1 6:23 into the second period, scoring on a rebound in the slot off an Aaron Ekblad shot from the point.
It was Reinhart’s fifth goal of the playoffs.
First period thoughts
The Panthers began to settle in after giving up the early goal in the first period, but need to generate more offense. Boston had a 21-11 edge in shot attempts and 13-4 advantage in shots on goal — although the Panthers actually had a 4-3 lead in scoring chances in the first 20 minutes.
Bruins get on the board first
Boston took a 1-0 lead 4:49 into the game on a Morgan Geekie backhanded shot from up close that got past Sergei Bobrovsky. Jake DeBrusk set up the goal with a pass across the crease to Geekie. Charlie McAvoy got the secondary assist.
Series recap and look ahead
▪ Game 1: The Bruins scored goals on each of their final three shots of the second period and never looked back to beat the Panthers 5-1 on Monday at Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena.
Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman made 38 saves, including stopping all 16 Panthers shots that came his way in the third period.
▪ Game 2: Aleksander Barkov had two goals and two assists, Sam Reinhart had four assists and Brandon Montour had three points as Florida blew out Boston 6-1 on Wednesday in a game that became contentious in the third period with 12 combined game misconducts.
▪ Game 3: The Panthers scored four times on the power play and held the Bruins to just 17 shots on goal in a 6-2 win on Friday at TD Garden to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
▪ Game 4: The Panthers rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the series. Anton Lundell, Sam Bennett and Aleksander Barkov scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky was perfect in the final two periods after giving up a pair of goals in the first.
▪ Game 5: Tonight
▪ Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, Boston’s TD Garden, Time and TV network TBD
▪ Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena, Time and TV network TBD
Pregame reading
Need to catch up ahead of Game 4? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past two days.
▪ Sam Bennett provides spark as Panthers beat Bruins in Game 4, go up 3-1 in series
▪ Should Sam Bennett’s game-tying goal have counted? What Panthers, Bruins, NHL had to say
▪ How Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky stays locked in during quiet periods in games
▪ Aaron Ekblad struggled in Game 1 vs. Bruins. How he responded has been key
▪ Three Florida Panthers players who have been under-the-radar impressive in the playoffs
