SUNRISE, Fla. — The Bruins did not take care of the Florida Panthers when they had their chances and now they are looking down the barrel of a Game 7 on home ice on Sunday to keep their dream season from blowing up in their faces.
The B’s wiped out three one-goal leads, then blew a pair of third-period leads before falling to the Panthers, 7-5, in an epic Game 6 at Florida Live Arena.
After the B’s failed to clear the zone, a familiar story in this series, Eetu Luostarinen broke a 5-5 tie with 5:38 left in the third period when he whistled one over Linus Ullmark’s blocker.
With Ullmark pulled, the B’s had two chances at the side of the net before Sam Reinhart cleared it off the boards and it slid all the way into the empty net with 28 seconds left.
Amazingly, that held up as the game-winner, because it was wild third period.
The Bruins tied the game for the third time 1:32 into the third period when, after the B’s created a neutral zone turnover, Tyler Bertuzzi scored his second goal of the game on a wrist shot from the left circle.
David Pastrnak, a going concern all night, then gave the B’s their first lead of the game on the power play at 3:52 of the third when he put back a pretty no-look pass from Bertuzzi to make it 4-3.
But with their season on the line, the Panthers clawed back. After Pastrnak was stopped on a breakaway, Florida managed a great shift, hemming the B’s until Zac Dalpe scored on an Luostarinen pass from behind the net.
After Hampus Lindholm airmailed the puck into the stands under little pressure, the teams traded goals on the Florida power play.
First, Jake DeBrusk gave the B’s their second lead with a shorthanded goal with 9:38 when Pavel Zacha beat the Panthers down the ice and fed the wide-open DeBrusk, who tucked it past Sergei Bobrovsky.
But with the Panther PP still going, Matthew Tkachuk jammed home his own rebound just 27 seconds after the goal.
From the drop of the puck, the Panthers were playing on their toes and the B’s were forced to react.
On the opening shift, the Panthers dumped the puck in and, when Ullmark bobbled it a bit before covering it, Sam Bennett gave him a bump, enough to set off a lot of pushing and shoving behind the net.
Bennett and Dmitry Orlov went off for matching minors but, shortly into the 4-on-4, Charlie McAvoy tripped Tkachuk to give the Panthers a 4-on-3 power play. On the advantage, Brandon Montour beat Ullmark clean on the blocker side side just 2:01 into the game.
But the B’s would get that one back on a power play of their own, drawn by a Taylor Hall rush to the net. On the PP, Bertuzzi followed up his own rebound of a Brad Marchand shot at 6:09, his third of the playoffs.
The B’s seemed to be settling down for a while but that changed when Connor Clifton, a healthy scratch the previous three games, tried too hard to make an impact on the game. First, he was sent off for charging, which the B’s were able to kill off.
But later in the period, a Clifton mistake led to a Panther go-ahead goal. From just inside his own blue line, he tried a hard diagonal pass through the neutral zone that was picked off by Nick Cousins and brought right back for a 2-on-1. With Clifton the only man back, Cousins took a shot that Ullmark saved but it produced a room service rebound for Tkachuk at 13:52.
The B’s went into the first intermission down 2-1, and they were fortunate it wasn’t worse.
In the second period, the B’s started to play some determined hockey and evened it up in a spectacular fashion. First, Pastrnak, who had struggled to find his scoring touch in this series, drew a penalty going to the net. Then on the power play, Pastrnak put himself on the highlight reels. Operating with his back to the net, Pastrnak put the puck between his legs and lifted it over Bobrovsky to even it up at 5:42.
Then it looked like, after another dominant shift, the B’s had taken the lead when Brandon Carlo’s seeing-eye shot beat Bobrovsky. But Panther coach Paul Maurice challenged it for a hand pass well before the play and, as video review showed, DeBrusk did in fact just touch the puck – barely – in the corner as he was trying to pick up his stick. Not much of a hand pass but the league ruled that DeBrusk “directed the puck to Patrice Bergeron with a hand pass” to keep the play going.
Florida was given a major reprieve.
And wouldn’t you know it, the Panthers regained the lead at 9:22. After the B’s were caught trying to keep the puck in the offensive zone, Florida eventually broke out with numbers. Anthony Duclair took it wide and his pass went off Orlov’s skate to Sasha Barkov. With Bergeron just a hair late to help out, Barkov outmuscled McAvoy to bang it home.
The Panthers had numerous chances to take a two-goal lead but could not control the puck when it appeared Ullmark was down and out. At the end of the period, the Panthers preserved the lead with a big penalty kill.
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April 29, 2023 at 09:20AM
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Bruins lose crazy Game 6 in Florida, down to their last game - Boston Herald
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