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Game 1 Takeaways: Stellar Swayman leads Bruins to 5-1 win against Panthers originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins’ road success in the Stanley Cup Playoffs continued in Game 1 of their second-round series against the Florida Panthers on Monday night.
Only 48 hours later eliminating the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime of Game 7The Bruins went to Sunrise, Florida, and defeated the Panthers 5-1 at Amerant Bank Arena.
After a scoreless but very entertaining first period, the Panthers got on the board first after capitalizing on a turnover in the Bruins zone. But the advantage did not last long. Morgan Geekie equalized for the B’s just 67 seconds later. Boston scored twice more in the frame with goals from defensemen Mason Lohrei and Brandon Carlo. Those three goals came on the Bruins’ final three shots of the period.
Having multiple defensemen score in the same game has been rare for the B’s this season. It has happened only twice in 90 games, and not since Nov. 14.
Justin Brazeau and Jake DeBrusk (empty net) scored for the Bruins in the third period. This offensive burst, along with Jeremy Swayman’s incredible performance in net (more on this below), propelled the B’s to their third straight Game 1 victory dating back to last season.
Game two of the series is Wednesday night at Florida. But before we look ahead to that matchup, here are three takeaways from Bruins-Panthers Game 1.
Jim Montgomery uses timeout to perfection
The Bruins couldn’t have started the third period worse. Hampus Lindholm took a bad penalty, putting the Bruins on the penalty kill. The Panthers nearly scored with the man advantage, but even after the power play ended, they continued to dominate puck possession and had 11 shots on net during the first six minutes of the period.
Bruins head coach Jim Mongomery recognized his team was losing focus and wisely called a timeout with 14:12 left in the period. Montgomery had a fiery message for his team, while captain Brad Marchand also showed his discontent with the team’s start to the period.
The timeout seemed to calm things down for the Bruins because they started playing much better, and less than two minutes later, freshman forward Justin Brazeau increased their lead to 4-1 with a nice deke on Sergei Bobrovsky.
Former Bruins forward PJ Stock loved Montgomery’s use of the timeout when his team was floundering.
What a long wait!! That’s a coach who knows his team. Each team has 1 per game. I’m so confused as to why trainers never use them. 4-1 #brunos #panthers
– PJ Stock (@PJStock28) May 7, 2024
Montgomery has made some good decisions in the playoffs so far. His line changes before Game 3 of the first round helped produce two wins in Toronto. He has given Lohrei a bigger role. He stuck with Swayman as the starter, allowing the young goalie to build impressive momentum. He too called David Pastrnak before Game 7 against Toronto and the right-handed superstar delivered.
Montgomery is pushing the right buttons right now.
Mason Lohrei’s stellar work continues
Rookies typically don’t show the kind of playoff confidence that Lohrei is playing with right now. He made his postseason debut in Game 3 against the Leafs and has steadily improved in all three zones with each passing game.
His best performance came on Monday night. He played the puck with poise, knew exactly when to come into play and did a good job of winning possession in puck battles along the boards.
Lohrei gave the Bruins their first lead since Game 4 of the first round when he beat Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky with a perfect high-short sniper. His first career playoff goal put Boston up 2-1.
Lohrei finished with a goal, an assist, two shots, two blocks and four hits in 16:05 of ice time.
Jeremy Swayman gives another great performance
Swayman made a sixth consecutive start for the first time in his career and turned in another fantastic performance. The 25-year-old goalkeeper had to perform well from the start and rose to the occasion with nine saves in the first half.
His best save came on a rebound in the first minute when he kicked the right pad to keep the game scoreless.
Swayman did a great job preserving Boston’s lead entering the third period. The Panthers started the frame super aggressively and fired 11 shots at Swayman in the first six minutes. Despite heavy traffic around the area, Swayman thwarted all of the Panthers’ scoring opportunities during that stretch.
Swayman finished with 38 saves on 39 shots. He has yet to allow more than two goals in any of his seven playoff starts, and leads all postseason netminders with a .955 save percentage.
Will the Bruins give Swayman a seventh straight start Wednesday in Game 2? Linus Ullmark played very well against the Panthers in the regular season with a 3-0-0 record, a .947 save percentage, and a 1.62 GAA.
But there’s no way the Bruins are taking Swayman out of the net when he’s been the best goaltender in the entire playoffs. He looked very good physically in Game 1 and as long as his stamina remains good, he should continue playing.
