Unfortunately, by popular demand, the Florida Panthers will not be going 82-0 in 2023.
And they were not able to go three-for-three on their opening road trip, as they lost to the Boston Bruins 5-3 on Monday night, despite a late comeback effort.
First Period:
Before puck-drop, reporter Jameson Olive reported that Panthers D Brandon Montour would not suit up due to an upper body injury. So, Florida would only have five defenseman for Monday’s game.
21 seconds into the game, the scoring started when Jake DeBrusk broke past Gustav Forsling and then sent it left past Sergei Bobrovsky.
Despite the shots being pretty even early on, both goalies stopped the rest of the shots taken in the period. Entering the second period, Boston led 1-0.
Second Period:
Do any Panthers fans want Jonathan Huberdeau back?
Well, Florida replaced him for a gem. Four minutes in, Matthew Tkachuk set up a PERFECT pass in the offensive zone that was redirected and put in by Sam Bennett to make it even at one.
Tkachuk has also been a big add through physicality. He took a dirty hit, then a line brawl ensued. Nick Foligno and Dan Renouf tried to get at Tkachuk but were held back. Tkachuk received a double-minor for roughing, Foligno went off for roughing and Boston’s Tomas Nosek picked up a minor for kneeing Rudolf Balcers on the initial hit.
Sam Reinhart would give the Panthers a great chance to take the lead off of a Frederic steal, but Ullmark robbed him. 14 seconds later, the Bruins would retake the lead when Jake DeBrusk would beat out two Panthers, and then dished a no-look backhander across the ice to Patrice Bergeron and beat Bobrovsky.
Aaron Ekblad would then leave the game after a scrum due to a lower-body injury. Now, the Panthers only had four defenseman.
Third Period:
Seven minutes in, after Florida would kill off a Bruins power play, Boston struck. David Pastrnak would deke every Panther in the offensive zone, then five-holed Bobrovsky to make it 3-1.
With around seven and a half left to go, the Bruins put the game out of reach when Trent Frederic would take a wrap-around pass and put it in past Bobrovsky’s leg pad.
However, the Panthers tried their comeback tricks, and they seemed to work (for a bit).
Colin White would set up Gustav Forsling, who fired one from the blue-line to make it 4-2.
Florida would then get some momentum when they would get a power play, and then Bobrovsky went to the bench for the extra skater. Florida also got lucky when two Bruins missed the empty net.
Impressively, the Panthers would cut it to a one goal game with 1:37 left when Colin White would jam a rebound from Gustav Forsling.
34 seconds later, Jake DeBrusk would put the puck into the empty net; the third time was the charm.
Next Up:
The Panthers have a three-game home stand coming up against the Flyers, Lightning, and Islanders.
Flyers (10/19)- 7:30 EST, TNT
Lightning (10/21)- 7:30 EST, ESPN+
Islanders (10/23)- 5 PM, Bally Sports Florida