The Bruins fell behind the Panthers at just 2:01 of the first period and played from behind for the majority of Game 6, which saw the lead go back and forth between the two clubs until Eetu Luostarinen gave Florida the lead at 14:22 of the third and never looked back, defeating Boston 7-5 to force Game 7.
Special teams were a key factor for both teams in the tilt, with Boston exploiting Florida’s mishaps by going 3-for-4 on the man advantage. Across the ice, the Panthers notched two of their seven goals on the power play. However, a miscue by Florida allowed Dmitry Orlov to clear the puck out of the zone, with Pavel Zaha collecting the loose puck and feeding Jake DeBrusk for the short-handed bid.
The DeBrusk goal gave Boston the 5-4 lead, but the heart and soul of Florida’s lineup, Matthew Tkachuk, tied the game 27 seconds later, leading to the Panthers recording two more unanswered goals.
“I think a lot of our mistakes are fixable,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “… They were mental breakdowns running out of position, which is uncharacteristic for us, but it’s the playoffs. It was a great hockey game. Unfortunately, we didn’t end up on the right side of it.”
Here are more notes from Friday’s Bruins-Panthers Game 6:
— Brandon Carlo thought he scored his first goal of the postseason, but Florida challenged the play, and it was deemed a non-goal due to a handpass behind the Panthers’ net from DeBrusk to Patrice Bergeron.
“I was talking to the officials, and they were kind of laughing about it because it was my fingertip or something,” DeBrusk told reporters postgame, as seen on NESN. “So, I don’t know how that’s — umm, you know it is what it is. They obviously looked at it, and they called it what it was.”
— Tyler Bertuzzi continues to thrive in his first postseason. The pesky forward notched two goals and an assist in the loss for Boston. His first goal came on the power play while on his knees in front of the net. Bertuzzi has nine points in six games.
— David Krejci returned to the lineup for Boston after missing the last three games. The second-line center blocked three Florida shots and logged 17:44 minutes of ice time in his return.
— The Bruins will host the Panthers for the decisive Game 7 Sunday at TD Garden. Puck drop is TBD. You can watch the game on NESN, along with an hour of pregame coverage.
