Brad Marchand’s exit and other takeaways from Bruins’ Game 3 loss
Boston’s penalty kill, which had been solid throughout the playoffs, allowed four power play goals to the Panthers on Friday.
Perhaps reality is starting to sink in for the Boston Bruins.
After riding emotional highs in their Game 7 overtime thriller against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Game 1 triumph over the Florida Panthers, the Bruins look outmatched against the top team in the Atlantic Division.
Jeremy Swayman again did everything he could to bail his team out. But coming off a heated ending of their Game 2 blowout in Sunrise, the Bruins struggled to support their fourth-year netminder at every area of the ice.
By the opening 20, the tensions had simmered. There was little carryover from the scrappy moments at the end of Wednesday’s tilt, highlighted by David Pastrnak’s bout with Matthew Tkachuk.
The poor breakouts, sloppy clearing attempts and ineffective shot selection resulted in another slow start.
Evan Rodrigues got the Panthers off and running after just tucking his stick under the bar to beat Swayman on a rebound at 8:14 of the first.
Florida capitalized on both ends of Mason Lohrei’s double-minor for high-sticking late in the second. The Panthers extended their lead to 3-0 at 17:14 of the second after Vladimir Tarasenko and Carter Verhaeghe notched their power play markers just a minute apart.
