Bruins vs. Panthers, Game 3: Three keys to B’s home victory

Bruins vs. Panthers, Game 3: Three keys to B’s home victory originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Bruins needed to win at least one road game in their Eastern Conference second-round series against the Florida Panthers, and they got that win in game 1.

But their performance in Game 2 – a lopsided 6-1 defeat – highlighted some areas that still need significant improvement as the series moves to Boston for Games 3 and 4 at TD Garden.

Home ice hasn’t been a huge advantage for the B’s in the last few playoffs. They have a 3-5 record (1-3 in overtime) with 2.75 goals scored and 2.75 goals allowed per home game in the playoffs since the start of last season.

Let’s look at three ways the Bruins can take a 2-1 series lead with a win in Game 3 on Friday night.

The six best players need to advance

The Panthers’ top six forwards have already made a strong impact in this series. Matthew Tkachuk scored in Game 1. Aleksander Barkov picked up an assist in Game 1, then scored two goals with two assists in Game 2. Sam Reinhart tied the Panthers’ playoff record with four points (all assists) in Game 2.

Florida has a lot of offensive firepower, even if center Sam Bennett doesn’t play. The Panthers have scored three or more goals in six of their seven playoff games so far.

Unless Jeremy Swayman neutralizes the Panthers’ offense a few more times — as he did in the series opener — the Bruins will have to score a lot more goals to get to the next round. And even though we got good contributions from depth players in Game 1, it’s the stars that really need to show up.

David Pastrnak played well early in Game 1, but was very quiet in Game 2, with zero shots. The superstar right-hander scored the Bruins’ most important playoff goal so far – Winner of Game 7 in overtime against Leafs – but it’s the only time he’s scored in the last five games.

Pavel Zacha had three assists in two games against Florida, but he is also looking for his first goal in the playoffs. In fact, Zacha has yet to score a goal in 19 career playoff games.

Brad Marchand earned an assist in Game 1 and Game 2, but also hasn’t scored in the last five games. The captain has also scored just three shots in the last three games combined. Charlie Coyle scored Boston’s only goal on Wednesday night, but it was their only goal in nine playoff games thus far.

The Bruins also need Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm – two offensively talented defensemen – to generate points. McAvoy has gone 27 consecutive playoff games without scoring and has not scored a single point in the last five games. Lindholm had a great Game 7 against Toronto, but is pointless with just two shots in the second round so far.

These top six forwards, in addition to McAvoy, also play a prominent role on the Bruins’ power play. This unit has scored zero goals on just seven shots in 16:35 of man-advantage time in the last five games.

The Bruins need a little more scoring from their best players to take control of this series.

Limit defensive failures and bad penalties

The Panthers are very aggressive with their forecheck, and this often leads to turnovers that end up in the opponent’s net. This was the case in Game 2. The Bruins were unable to get the puck out of the D zone just before the Panthers’ second and third goals.

The failed clearing attempts weren’t the B’s only defensive errors in Game 2. McAvoy and Marchand also picked out Swayman on Florida’s third goal. If you want to skate into the goalie’s path, you’ll have to block the shot.

Turnover was also a big problem for Boston. They were credited with 14 giveaways in Game 2. McAvoy had three of them, and he actually leads all players in the playoffs with 16. Lindholm is tied for second most giveaways with 11. Two other Bruins – Marchand and Brandon Carlo – – are in the top 10.

The Bruins also need to be a little more disciplined. They took their fifth too many men on the playoff ice penalty in Game 2. Entering Thursday, the other 15 teams in the playoffs had combined to take that penalty just four times. Having too many penalty men on the ice is bad – five of them in nine games is simply inexcusable.

The Panthers went 0-for-3 on the power play in Game 1, then started 0-for-4 in Game 2 before finishing 1-for-6 after the game got out of hand in the third quarter. The Bruins have been the second-best penalty kill team (90% success rate) in the playoffs so far, but they are playing with fire by giving the Panthers so many power plays in every game.

Florida has a lot of elite talent on its power units. It doesn’t take much for this group to start firing on all cylinders.

Channel the excitement of Game 2 the right way

The Bruins deserve some credit for not backing down when the score got out of hand in the third period of Game 2 and the Panthers tried to intimidate them. Pat Maroon didn’t back down, nor did Marchand, Trent Frederic and several others.

Included in this group was Pastrnak. Tkachuk asked to fight him and the Bruins superstar was undeterred, even though he knew the fight wouldn’t go well for him.

“To be honest, I’m not afraid of him,” Pastrnak said after the game when asked about the fight, via the NESN broadcast. “I can take a punch and I would do anything for these guys here.”

Pastrnak received a lot of praise for fighting Tkachuk. Former NHL player Mike Rupp said he even got goosebumps watching it. He also noted that when a superstar player joins the proverbial fight like this, it can really lift an entire team. Rupp loved the message Pastrnak sent.

TD Garden will be killing it in Game 3 on Friday night. Yes, it’s the start of a weekend, but the way Game 2 ended will have fans really excited. What happened in the last 10 minutes of Game 2 should also give the Bruins a lot of energy. But it is important that they channel this emotion in the right way. The B’s can’t allow this to lead to mistakes, like stupid penalties or coming off a play just to score a big hit.

Tkachuk tried to draw the Bruins into penalties from the start of Game 2, and was successful just 17 seconds into the game, when Justin Brazeau took off Tkachuk’s helmet and received a two-minute minor penalty for roughhousing, thus putting the Panthers in the game of power.

If the Bruins use the excitement of Game 2 in a positive way, it could lead to a fast start and perhaps a first period goal or two on Friday night.