The Boston Bruins are suddenly breathing easier and thriving in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The pressure burst Saturday night when David Pastrnak scored a seventh game, overtime goal to rid the Bruins of the Toronto Maple Leafs, allowing the team to celebrate with unrestrained joy.
Two days later, skating against the favored Florida Panthers in the hockey hamlet of Sunrise, Florida, the relaxed and unrested Bruins skated to a 5-1 triumph that left their hosts scratching their heads and trying to figure out a way to reverse the outcome in Game 2.
While the Boston victory over the Panthers was unexpected, the New York Rangers’ triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal was not. The Rangers got off to a quick start that put the visiting Hurricanes in chase mode and earned a 4-3 victory thanks to an impressive two-goal performance from Mika Zibanejad and a game-clinching snipe from Artemi Panarin in the third period.
Carolina has more than enough weapons to push back and turn this into a long series, while Florida remains a strong favorite despite their Game 1 debacle.
The Panthers were victimized by a series of defensive giveaways shortly after taking a 1-0 lead in the second period. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad, normally the most reliable Florida blue liner, struggled from the start and was victimized by Morgan Geekie on the tying goal 67 seconds after combative Matthew Tkachuk had opened the scoring.
Geekie potted a rebound into goaltender Ilya Samsonov’s net, and Bruins defensemen Mason Lohrei and Brandon Carlo followed with their own wicked shots to the top portion of the net before the end of the second period. There was joy on the Bruins bench, a huge turnaround from the doom and foreboding that marked the final games of the Toronto series when it looked like Boston might blow a 3-1 series lead for the second year in a row.
Nobody was happier than Carlo, who flew to South Florida from Boston hours after his wife had given birth to the couple’s second child and first son. “Definitely 24 hours that I won’t forget,” Carlo said. “I think Pasta (Pastrnak) might’ve skated over and grabbed that puck for me. That would be pretty special to have, for sure. I don’t score very often, so very cool experience for me.”
Boston’s razor-sharp goalie Jeremy Swayman was the backbone of the triumph, much as he had been in the opening round win over the Maple Leafs. The Panthers came out hitting and shooting, and Swayman calmly turned away 38 of the 39 shots he faced. Swayman is projecting maximum confidence. The belief is that he will stop any puck that he can clearly see. Tkachuk’s second period goal for the Panthers was a rising wrister that deflected off of Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm.
The Rangers are equally confident in their netminder Igor Shesterkin. He is clearly one of the top goaltenders in the league and while he gave up three goals to the Hurricanes in the series opener, he is in excellent harmony with his defense and he knows that the Rangers offense is not going to require a pristine effort in every game.
The Presidents’ Trophy winners have the kind of clutch offensive attack that will give them a legitimate chance to put together a memorable spring that hasn’t been seen in New York City since the legendary 1994 Stanley Cup run. Zibanejad, Panarin, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Adam Fox may be too much for a very strong Carolina team to overcome.
The Hurricanes have a significant level of offensive firepower led by Sebastain Aho, Jake Guentzel, Seth Jarvis, Marty Necas, Andrei Svechnikov and Brent Burns, but their goaltending with Frederik Andersen is a notch below New York’s. Andersen has battled back from a severe blood clotting issue that kept him out for the majority of the season. He may not be consistent enough to stop the Rangers at the biggest moments.
The second-round of the Eastern Conference will play out on a nearly every-night basis for the next 12 days. The drama will ratchet up as the Bruins hope to build on their Game 1 victory and upset the Panthers while the Rangers attempt to close out a determined Carolina team and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
