When the Florida Panthers defeated the Bruins Wednesday night, Matthew Tkachuk told his teammates to “remember the room” because they would be back in Boston for Game 7.
His words, as it turned out, would be accurate because the Panthers captured the win in their own barn on Friday night to force the decisive Game 7.
It’s now up to the Bruins to play to the standard they set in place all season long to not be the latest Presidents’ Trophy winners to be sent packing in the first round.
“It was one of these games that I think every mistake was, you had to pay for it,” Bruins forward David Pastrnak told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “… Just need to regroup, get back home, and get back in front of our fans and get it done.”
Pastrnak has been a little snake-bitten over the past few games, unable to find the back of the net, but the 26-year-old Czech native told reporters that he would break out of his slump in this game.
The 60-goal scorer made good on that comment and notched two power-play goals in the loss. His first was a between-the-legs circus move that will make highlight reels for years.
“I guess it’s just instinct,” Pastrnak said. “I’m not there very often. I know when you’re in front (of the net), you don’t have much time. So I just tried to get it on and off my stick real quick, and it’s a nice goal.”
Pastrnak and his teammates will look to advance to the second round against the winner of the Toronto Maple Leafs-Tampa Bay Lightning series by defeating Florida on Sunday. Puck drop from TD Garden has not yet been decided. NESN.com will bring you all the in-depth analysis and game action throughout the playoffs. You can watch all of the first-round games on NESN.
