Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk Had This Takeaway From Loss To Bruins

Even though six total goals were scored Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena, neither the Bruins nor the Panthers were thrilled with their respective offensive performances in Game 1.

Jim Montgomery lamented Boston’s lack of quality scoring chances in the opener against Florida, noting goaltender Jeremy Swayman made the contest look more lopsided than it actually was. Matthew Tkachuk, meanwhile, had his own issue with how the reigning Eastern Conference champions operated in the visitors’ zone.

“We had a couple of good looks, but against some of the better goalies in the league, you’ve got to get right in front of them,” Tkachuk told reporters, per NHLcom. “We were off to the side and maybe looking for plays backdoor, maybe just putting our stick in front of him. You’ve got to stand right in front of him. That’s what they did to ‘Bob’ (Sergei Bobrovsky). That’s how all the good teams at this time of year have success is stand in front of the goalie.

“So, we’ve got to get better at that. That’s probably the No. 1 thing we’ve got to get better at.”

All things considered, we probably can expect the battle between these Atlantic Divison foes to look a lot different Wednesday night than it did Monday. Boston and Florida will drop the puck for Game 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET.