After a record-setting regular season that featured sheer dominance the majority of the time, the Boston Bruins did not look like the same Presidents' Trophy-winning club against the Panthers in their playoff opener.
It ended up not being a major detriment to the Bruins, who earned a 3-1 victory in Game 1 of their first-round series against Florida.
Now it'll be up to the Bruins, who won at TD Garden without captain Patrice Bergeron, to regain their form after some perhaps unexpected nerves threw them off course in the early going of their playoff opener.
Brad Marchand highlighted an area of improvement while speaking with reporters after Game 1.
"I think kind of all over," Marchand told reporters, per the team. "Typically there's always something you can take away from a game and I don't think we've ever been satisfied with any game we've had this year. But they're a good team. We knew they were going to push hard, and they did.
"We started turning too many pucks over in the neutral zone, top of the circles in the second period and kind of got away from our game," Marchand said. "But (if) we do a better job taking care of pucks and playing down low, that's kind of where we've thrived all year, hopefully that plays more into our hands."
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery acknowledged Boston's inability to play as crisp of an offensive game, as well. It limited the Bruins from getting many strong scoring chances, instead benefiting from a leaky goal that got past Panthers netminder Alex Lyon and a pair of dirty-area tallies from David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk.
It led to Florida having seven high-danger chances in the first period and outshooting Boston 13-4 in 5-on-5 shots. The Panthers doubled up the Bruins in shots (21-10) at the midway point of regulation, as well.
"That's where we need to improve," Montgomery told reporters Tuesday after Boston held a morning skate, per the team.
"We weren't very clean and crisp offensively, not only on breakouts, but in the neutral zone, in the offensive zone," Montgomery said. "I thought our defensive game was good, our offensive game was real slow and a little lethargic."
The Bruins will have the opportunity to improve on that end when they host the Panthers in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series at TD Garden n Wednesday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET, and you can watch it live on NESN after an hour of pregame coverage.
