The Boston Bruins put themselves in a difficult situation after failing to close out their first-round series against the Flordia Panthers in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Taking the ice in their home building, the high-leverage contest lived up to the hype. The Bruins, who initially led the series 3-1, evened up the score on three occasions before falling in overtime, 4-3, extending the series to a sixth game and giving Florida new life. Like the Celtics, the Bruins will head to the road with a shot at redemption to punch their ticket to the next round. But it hasn't been easy for them.
At first, the Bruins needed to weather the storm of Patrice Bergeron's absence, who missed the first four games of the series. Now, they're working around an uncharacteristic lack of scoring from All-Star David Pastrnak. But rest assured, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery isn't worried in the slightest.
"Pucks not going in right now for him, it's just a matter of time," Montgomery told reporters. "I thought he worked really hard. I thought he won a lot of battles. I thought he was more involved, maybe than he was the first two games at home. But it's just a matter of time, he's just too good."
Hard to imagine many people expected Pastrnak to net just two goals through five games against the Panthers, right? In fact, during the regular season, when Pastrnak netted a career-high 61 goals, he scored in each of Boston's four matchups with the Panthers. The 26-year-old also hasn't gone back-to-back games without finding the net since March 14 and 16, and even then Pastrnak still racked up assists in both contests.
With the pressure creeping up on the NHL's all-time single-season wins-leading team, Montgomery isn't lacking an ounce of confidence in a single member of the Bruins roster.
"I have a lot of confidence in our team. I have a lot of confidence in our group," Montgomery said. "From the first player to the 23rd, 24th player."
Pastrnak and the Bruins get another shot at putting the Panthers to bed Friday night in Game 6.
