The Florida Panthers are one game away from their second straight Conference Finals, up 3-1 on the Bruins heading into Tuesday. Game 5 is at 7:00 pm EST in Sunrise.
After a convincing 5-1 win in Game 1, the Bruins have all but disappeared and are on the ropes tonight. Brad Marchand made the trip to Florida, but it is unclear whether or not he is starting tonight.
Jeremy Swayman has been the lone starter for Boston since Game 3 of Round 1, and rightfully so. However, a starter for tonight has not been named.
Despite questions surrounding Marchand and the goaltending, the real question is: Does it matter?
The Panthers were sleepy in Game 1, there’s no doubt about it. Since then, they have won in dominating fashion. Even in a 3-2 win on Sunday, it always felt like Florida was going to win that game.
No Change Needed for the Panthers
We can sit here and break down analytics. We can read a bunch of stats and talk about the depth or the goaltending. The bottom line is the Panthers are bigger, faster, and stronger, and have looked every bit of it through four games.
The Panthers have game-changers on every line, a steady defensive core, and not to mention one of the best goalies in the league in Sergei Bobrovsky.
Panthers captain, Aleksander Barkov, has been arguably their best player in this series with points in every game. He has 3 goals and 8 points in Round 2 alone and is leading the charge in a big way.
As controversial as he may be, Sam Bennett’s return has been a huge boost to an already physical team. He can be a dirty player for sure, but he’ll get under your skin and force you in bad decisions, and he’s been doing it on a regular basis.
As for Bobrovsky, he hasn’t had to be spectacular. The goaltender hasn’t seen more than 20 shots since Game 1 and in the betting markets, some save totals for Game 5 are as low as 22.5. He let in 2 goals on just 5 shots in the first period on Sunday but shut the door after that, and gave his team a chance to come back and win the game.
Pat Maroon Calls Out Bruins After Game 4
Bruins fans might feel jobbed after some of the ref’s decisions in Game 4, and understandably so.
Pat Maroon, a three-time Stanley Cup winner, won’t let the team point the finger, however, heading into Tuesday night’s must-win contest.
“We had a 2-0 lead. We didn’t give ourselves an opportunity and we didn’t play well. Unfortunately, that’s not good enough right now. We can’t sit there and make excuses on who’s to blame. It’s the 25 guys in our locker room right now, and we’ve got to figure it out.”
If you’re the Boston Bruins, that has to be the sentiment with the season on the line.
After putting up 29 shots in Game 1, they haven’t eclipsed 20 since. Swayman hasn’t been happy with his performance either, but if the offense isn’t creating chances at the other end of the ice, how Swayman plays is irrelevant.
In Round 1 the Bruins were able to take advantage of Toronto’s mistakes. Unless they’re on vacation, there are no Maple Leafs in Florida. Their defense needs to tighten up and they need to put pucks on the net. It’s not more complicated than that.
The other key factor on Tuesday is going to be the special teams. They got away with only allowing one goal on six penalties the other night, but they gave up four in Game 3 and they’re down a man far too often. Add discipline to the list of adjustments for the Bruins in Game 5.
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