BOSTON — Jim Montgomery liked how his team played for two periods. Even when they fell behind on two occasions.
That did not extend to the final 20 minutes.
“Our game got away from us,” the Bruins coach said after the 6-3 Game 2 loss. “For a team that’s been really good in the third period for a long time, it’s an opportunity for us to learn and grow from that.”
Observations:
1. The Bruins missed Patrice Bergeron’s calming presence as well as his play. The captain was unavailable for the second straight game because of an upper-body injury. The Bruins paid the price on Wednesday for his appearance in the regular-season finale against the Canadiens when he got hurt.
Not only was he missed on the ice, but the Bruins could have used his command on the bench in the third period.
“When we fell down 4-2, I didn’t think we regrouped and reset,” Montgomery said. “Most of the year, we’ve been able to take a breath, reset and go back to our game. We didn’t go back to our game when it was 4-2. I thought we got back to our game in the first two periods. Every time we fell behind, we got back to our game.”
2. It is impossible to say how Jeremy Swayman would have performed in Game 2. Instead of continuing the goaltending rotation, the Bruins went with Linus Ullmark for a second straight start.
It is fair to say, though, that Ullmark has played better than he did on Wednesday. According to MoneyPuck, Ullmark was at -1.63 goals saved above expected in all situations. Ullmark allowed five goals on two occasions during the regular season: once in a 6-5 overtime win against the Penguins and a second time in a 6-3 loss to the Blackhawks.
On Florida’s first goal, Ullmark might have been able to reach the puck first had he left his crease. Instead, Sam Bennett found the puck and slipped it through Ullmark’s pads.
Twenty-two seconds into the third, Brandon Montour broke a 2-2 tie by sending in a long-distance shot. Ullmark could not locate Montour’s shot through Aleksander Barkov and Charlie McAvoy, who were fighting for position in front.
Montour scored his second goal of the night with another long-range shot. Again, Ullmark couldn’t find the puck through Taylor Hall and Charlie Coyle, who were challenging the shot.
Now Montgomery and goaltending coach Bob Essensa have to determine whether Ullmark should get a third straight start. Last season, Swayman took over the net in Game 3 against the Hurricanes. However, the Bruins lost the first two games.
3. Montgomery thought the Bruins moved the puck better out of the defensive zone in Game 2 than in Game 1. But the mistakes they made in the loss were ghastly.
In the first, while carrying the puck up the right-side wall, Brandon Carlo threw an exit pass into the middle of the ice. Matthew Tkachuk easily intercepted the pass and fed Bennett for the opening goal.
In the third, McAvoy did well to fend off Eetu Luostarinen’s first forecheck. But then Bennett arrived as F2. McAvoy could barely get rid of the puck before Bennett put him into the boards. Because of the ferocity of Bennett’s arrival, Tkachuk won the puck and fed Carter Verhaege for a point-blank dunk. Ullmark had no chance.
“In the first two periods, we were doing really good things with the puck,” Montgomery said. “But the turnovers we had tonight were catastrophic. They were right through the middle of the ice. Not typical of the turnovers. We typically have turnovers when the other team is forcing us or we’re trying to make plays. It wasn’t really in areas typically where you’re trying to make plays that we turned it over.”
4. Matt Grzelcyk was a healthy scratch for the first two games. That may change. The Bruins could use Grzelcyk’s puck-moving sharpness to foil Florida’s heavy forecheck. He could replace Derek Forbort on the No. 3 pair.
The problem with the switch would be that the Panthers will have the last change in Games 3 and 4. This would allow coach Paul Maurice to optimize his matchups against Grzelcyk and Connor Clifton.
But it may be something Montgomery is willing to bear. Forbort played 14:03, the least of any team defenseman. He played 1:18 on the penalty kill, which is his bread and butter.
“It gives me pause to think about changes everywhere,” Montgomery said of adjusting his lineup following the Game 2 loss.
5. David Pastrnak was nowhere to be found. The right wing had just two shots on net in 18:43 of ice time. Early in the third, Pastrnak had a glittering opportunity to tie the game at 3-3 after taking a pass from David Krejci. But Pastrnak rocketed his one-timer wide of the net.
Pastrnak also lost a puck battle to Eric Staal in center ice in the second period. Moments later, Staal slipped past Pastrnak, took a pass from Nick Cousins and beat Ullmark to break a 1-1 tie.
(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
