Bruins

Sam Bennett’s return for Panthers spells bad news for Bruins

"We've got guys that are physical, but I don't think anybody is as physical as Benny."

Sam Bennett was relentless on the forecheck for Florida in Game 3. Matthew J. Lee / The Boston Globe

May 11, 2024

Crafting a fool-proof game plan to tame the Florida Panthers? It’s an undertaking as fruitless as trying to duck traffic on I-93 South at 4:59 p.m.

Matthew Tkachuk draws most of the headlines as Florida’s pugnacious poster boy. But Paul Maurice’s team boasts multiple elite talents capable of tilting the ice in their favor.

Aleksander Barkov might be the best two-way centerman in the post-Bergeron era, while Sam Reinhart lit the lamp 57 times in 2023-24.

Sergei Bobrovsky is a Vezina Trophy finalist, Brandon Montour is one of the most potent playmaking D-men in the league (106 points in last 146 games) while Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling anchor the NHL’s top-ranked defense (2.41 goals against per game).

Amid that stacked depth chart, Sam Bennett can easily fly under the radar. The 27-year-old pivot isn’t the largest skater on Florida’s roster, nor has he ever surpassed the 50-point threshold.

But after Florida’s convincing 6-2 win over the Bruins on Friday night, Maurice offered arguably the highest praise for Bennett and his role in Florida’s ascension as a feared playoff juggernaut.

“His style, I would say that it’s maybe the prototypical kind of Florida Panther identity — the way we’re either viewed or the way we like to play,” Maurice said of Bennett. “He might embody that.”

The Bruins learned that the hard way in Game 3 on Causeway Street.

On a night where a galvanized Bruins roster was expected to get a rise out of David Pastrnak’s spirited Game 2 scrap with Tkachuk, it was the Panthers who received the largest lift with Bennett back in the lineup — further strengthening a roster that already seems to have a sound plan in place to bounce Boston from the playoffs.

“It was nice to get back out there,” said Bennett, who was sidelined for five games after suffering an upper-body injury in Florida’s first-round series. “I think it’s important to not dip your toe in. I want to be out there and play full speed and that’s kind of my game.”

Much like last postseason, the Bruins have labored in this round as far as countering Florida’s relentless forechecking pressure. Bennett’s insertion into the lineup is akin to adding a heat-seeking missile in front of a pack of hungry wolves.

Bennett may not be the heftiest player out on the ice, but he makes his hits count, often as the first man in on Florida’s forecheck.

While most Bruins fans were expecting fisticuffs and fireworks after Wednesday’s fracas in South Florida, Bennett set the tone early for his team — dropping both Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak with a pair of heavy hits.

His reverse hit on Marchand dropped Boston’s captain to the ice, with Marchand later ruled out of the game in the third period due to an upper-body injury.

“I mean, obviously he’s a heck of a player and an important part of that team,” Bennett said of Marchand’s injury. “So yeah, it’s playoff hockey and we’ll see [about his return].”

The Bruins have announced Brad Marchand is unlikely to return to the game with an upper body injury.

Marchand played the rest of the first and second after taking this hit from Bennett pic.twitter.com/kwx3LfOGP8
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 11, 2024

In total, Bennett landed seven hits in his 12:43 of ice time in Game 3, with Florida’s incessant pressure in Boston’s D-zone putting Boston’s transition in neutral. Boston landed just 17 shots on goal against Bobrovsky on Friday, after only peppering him with 15 in Game 2.

“We’ve got guys that are physical, but I don’t think anybody is as physical as Benny,” Tkachuk said. “He’s not the biggest guy, but he plays so big. So he definitely changed our team for sure.”

Beyond landing welts against the Bruins, Bennett also generated the primary assist on Vladimir Tarasenko’s power-play snipe in the second period.

The Panthers have now scored nine goals against Jeremy Swayman in the last six periods of hockey — with Boston’s D-zone turnovers and lapses hampering their top player between the pipes.

“He’s an elite goalie and you got to try to take his eyes away,” Evan Rodrigues said of Swayman. “You like to say that about every goalie in the league, but the way he’s been playing — you try to focus on it a little bit more.”

The Bruins already have their hands full trying to slow down one of the best top-six units in the league. But Bennett’s return also bumps Anton Lundell back to the third line next to Rodrigues and Eetu Luostarinen — creating another matchup headache for Jim Montgomery and the Bruins.

“What he does for the rest of our lineup — that is equally as important,” Maurice said of Bennett. “Because I think the Lundell line was the best line. They were fantastic tonight. It kind of puts our pieces in place.”

Solving the Panthers’ bruising approach was already going to be a daunting undertaking for the Bruins. Bennett’s return from injury — much as it did last spring — makes it even harder.

Get the ice bags ready.