Report: NHL tells Bruins, Panthers their series will be ‘heavily scrutinized’ originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
The physicality during the third period of game 2 between the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers on Wednesday night caught the attention of NHL offices.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported Friday, a few hours before Game 3 at TD Gardenthat the league told both teams their Eastern Conference second-round series will be “heavily scrutinized.”
Game 3 tonight between Florida and Boston. Game 2 certainly had a nasty tone, amplified by the brawl between Pastrnak and Tkachuk. Both clubs have been informed by the NHL that this series will be heavily scrutinized in the future.
-Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 10, 2024
Game 2 got out of hand midway through the third period. Pat Maroon and Nick Cousins got into a fight and both engaged in 10 minutes of inappropriate conduct. The action only escalated from there, as both teams combined to record an impressive 136 penalty minutes during the period.
The craziest scene was Bruins forward David Pastrnak and Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk dropping the gloves for a fight at 12:42 p.m. of the period. If you were to make a list of the players most likely to fight each other in this series, a Pastrnak-Tkachuk fight would probably be at the bottom.
It appears the league doesn’t want chaos to engulf Game 3, but that could be difficult to avoid because the Bruins fans in attendance will be excited on Friday night and Boston will likely want to send a message and show that they won’t be pressed. You can bet Pastrnak will receive a raucous ovation if he starts or whenever he takes his first shift. Tkachuk, of course, will receive a lot of boos from the home crowd.
If referees call these games firmly and a series of penalties are assessed, power plays would be a crucial factor in the outcome of the series.
The Panthers scored once on six power play opportunities in Game 2, and are 1-for-9 in the series overall. The Bruins have failed on all five power play chances in this series so far, and haven’t scored a goal with the man advantage since Game 4 of their first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Bruins-Panthers series is tied at one win apiece in Game 3.
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