Bruins
Even without Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, the Florida Panthers remain at the highest of the Boston Bruins.
For the second time in six days, Jim Montgomery's club took full advantage of Florida's strengths. Admittedly, the Bruins got here out of the gate flying and looked way more confident in attack than they did on opening night. However, they allowed themselves to be carried away by the tensions on the ice created by AJ Greer's unannounced putback on David Pastrnak shortly after Johnny Beecher's opening goal at 4:53.
Between one other round of turnovers, defensive errors and their latest attempts at revenge, the Bruins once more chased the combative Panthers.
Boston's fourth line carried the offensive output, with Beecher, Mark Kastelic and Cole Koepke joined by Brandon Carlo and Mason Lohrei within the second third. Still, their top brass struggled to get quality takes care of several losing puck battles, leading to two-goal losses from Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell.
Here are a number of thoughts on Boston's 4-3 loss during Monday's matinee at TD Garden.
The Panthers got into the minds of the Bruins
For over two years, the Panthers have overwhelmed the Bruins with their aggressive, physical forechecking. And while a few of their antics should be questioned, they’re still effective at unnerving their opponents.
On Monday, the Bruins knocked them out of their rhythm when Greer Pastrnak scored from behind. Her initial response was praised by Montgomery after Pavel got here to assistance from Zacha Pastrnak in his temporary fight with Greer.
Still, the third-year Boston coach didn't like every little thing that happened after the Pastrnak hit.
Following Greer's collision with Pastrnak, Boston's concentration waned, leading to more losing battles for puck possession (as seen on Reinhart's first possession), costly turnovers (resembling Lundell's turnover in the primary and Reinhart's breakaway marker within the second), and a Another round resulted in inappropriate penalties.
“They’re winning the mental side of the fight against us,” Montgomery said during a comparatively temporary news conference that lasted about two minutes. “Pasta got hit… and I love what Pav did – he went in, defended it… that's great. But the punishments afterwards? I mean, it's just not discipline.
“In all four games we take at least four minors. This way we can't win hockey games, and then we can't lose as many battles as we do. I mean, they're the standard in the NHL right now when it comes to winning battles and we're not at that level yet. We have to improve this level significantly.”
Since they won't see Florida again until January eleventh, the Bruins will turn their attention to their current deficits. But the disparity between the 2 clubs will remain until the Bruins find an efficient, disciplined counterattack.
Boston's fourth line continued its hot start
In 4 games, the Bruins haven’t produced an entire 60-minute performance. However, your fourth line has no such inconsistencies.
The Beecher-Kastelic-Koepke trio not only played their energy and checking roles perfectly, but was also involved in all three of Boston's goals on Monday.
Unlike the opposite three lines, Boston's fourth trio always provided traffic in front of Bobrovsky, starting with Beecher's tip on Kastelic's wrist in the primary period.
“I think with every game there is more chemistry,” Kastelic said. “At the same time, I think we'll have a lot more success if we just play and play the way that got us to this level and just play with a lot of pace. It's been fun playing with these guys so far. They are great players.”
Whether creating opportunities in transition or establishing a net presence at Carlo and Lohrei's markers, Boston's fourth line looked to set the tone in one other heated duel with Florida.
Bruins' best weapons 'not fulfilling their role'
“They just fulfill their role,” Montgomery said of the fourth line’s performance in comparison with the remaining of the forward core. “The guys in the top six are not fulfilling their role.”
The Bruins had every likelihood to get a minimum of one point on Monday. Instead, the highest weapons remained off balance after Greer's attack on Pastrnak.
While Zacha and Brad Marchand made it their mission to deliver courageous duels, the general flow from Boston's top six was missing in the primary two periods of the sport.
All 4 of Boston's goals were the results of a mental breakdown, starting with Lundell scoring his first goal of the night after Lohrei lost the ball.
Shortly after Pastrnak committed an interference violation against Carter Verhaeghe, Reinhart pounced along with his first attack of the day after a faceoff win from Adam Boqvist.
The glitches continued until the second second. Within 3:30, Montgomery had witnessed Matthew Poitras lose a puck battle, resulting in Reinhart's shorthanded possession and one other poorly timed turnover by Trent Frederic during a line change that led to Lundell's breakaway sequence.
Between the turnovers, a slow power play and incessantly losing puck possession battles, Montgomery had seen enough. He modified his lineup midway through the center frame, hoping for a spark, putting Brad Marchand with Poitras and Justin Brazeau and Frederic alongside Charlie Coyle and Morgan Geekie.
“We need to be a little simpler and more direct, have better ozone support and just hang in there,” Marchand said. “There are a lot of loose pucks that we don’t get and those lines come to us and that’s a difference.”
The Bruins' primary offensive options finally showed their urgency in the ultimate 20, as Pastrnak and Zacha made good attacks on Sergei Bobrovsky, only to be faltered by a timely save or shot off the post. Still, the difference between Florida's top weapons and Boston's, even without Barkov and Tkachuk, stays significant.
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