Anton Lundell, Aleksander Barkov, and Matthew Tkachuk scored second-period goals for Florida to break open a 1-1 game.
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SUNRISE, Fla. — Looking like their skating legs and sharpness were washed out by the South Florida sun and surf, the Bruins saw their seven-game winning streak end at the edge of the Everglades.
A 5-2 loss to the Panthers saw the Bruins (17-3-0) unable to recover after falling behind by three goals in the second period. Given how powerful they had looked in previous games, Wednesday night’s game was a dud of undisciplined play.
Instead of double-digit skaters with points on the night, they had seven players whistled for infractions.
“When you’re having a lot of success, sometimes what you’re preaching falls on deaf ears,” coach Jim Montgomery said. “We haven’t harped on it a lot, but turnovers, and taking too many minor penalties, not using our feet and sticks well enough to take minor penalties” were issues at play.
Montgomery’s club has taken the fourth-most minors (84) in the league.
Boston, which still has the second-ranked PK in the league, allowed one power-play goal in three of its first 15 games, and never more than one (51 for 54). They have allowed at least one in each of their last five games (13 for 21).
made for a tough night for Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 26 of 30 shots. Facing that much PK time (8:01), he was an Alaska salmon swimming up a waterfall.
“He made some big saves to keep us in it, especially at 1-1 and 2-1,” Montgomery said. “Deflection goals that go under the bar,” like Aleksander Barkov’s skillful tip that fluttered past Swayman at 15:31 of the second, “it’s pretty hard to fault your goalie.”
Swayman put the onus on himself for Matthew Tkachuk’s short-side deflection, which made it 4-1 with 14 seconds left before the second intermission. Posted up on Swayman’s blocker side on the power play, Tkachuk redirected a bouncing pass from Barkov under the goalie’s arm.
“Their tendency was to bump it to the middle, so I wanted to stay on my feet,” Swayman said. “Obviously he read it well. One I wanted back. I learned from it. I’m not going to let that happen again.”
Montgomery tried to spark his club by pulling Swayman with 11-plus minutes left in a four-on-four situation. The Bruins got off two shot attempts, but the Panthers blocked both.
“It’s four on four, so they can’t ice the puck,” Montgomery said of the unconventional decision. “It’s a good time to do it. You’re just looking to get as close as you can to tie to the game.”
Charlie a lucky man.Bryan Berard pops right in my mind.
