Florida’s Sam Reinhart, left, Boston’s Morgan Geekie, center, and Aleksander Barkov of the Panthers get into a scuffle during the third period of Game 2 Wednesday night at Sunrise, Fla. Lynne Sladky/Associated Press
The emotions and intensity between the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins had already hit a tipping point Wednesday before the grand finale began.
Ten players had been kicked out in a span of 90 seconds of game action midway through the third period of Florida’s 6-1 win in Game 2 of the best-of-7 Stanley Cup playoffs series when Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk pointed to Boston’s David Pastrnak on the opposing bench.
It didn’t take much to realize what was going to happen next.
“Definitely for the team. (Tkachuk) was asking me. The game was over at 6-1, so give it a go,” Pastrnak said. “There was a lot of emotions. I’m not afraid of him to be honest. I can take a punch and I’d do anything for these guys.”
On the ensuing shift, Tkachuk and Pastrnak dropped their gloves near center ice – with Tkachuk laying down a few big right hooks as both tumbled to the ice. Tkachuk got the takedown, but Pastrnak slipped out and tried to continue to tussle, but the officials broke it up and issued both players a major and a misconduct.
“I’m not a very experienced fighter, I fell down. That’s on me,” Pastrnak said.
But the incident made an impact.
“Man, you’re going to see that on the highlights over and over again,” Panthers Coach Paul Maurice said. “I think it’s a good thing. You get two elite offensive players. Chucky’s a 100-point player. Pastrnak’s just this brilliant player, but it’s the playoffs. They each have their team. They’ve got their brothers in the room. It’s a little spicy out there and they want to go. I think it was awesome. Sorry if anyone’s offended by that concept. I don’t care. I thought it was awesome.”
Added Tkachuk: “I have tons of respect for him. … Just to see us out there battling at center ice in a playoff game, I think it’s pretty cool. It’s good for hockey. We’re both emotional guys that are leaders for our team that really just want to show that we will do whatever it takes to win.”
It was only a matter of time before the series got to this point, when the heat of the moment between two heated rivals would overtake a portion of the series. It finally happened in the final 10 minutes of Game 2 – and don’t expect things to mellow any time soon as the series shifts to Boston’s TD Garden for Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday.
Florida and Boston are tied 1-1 in this second-round series, one year after the Panthers rallied from a 3-1 deficit to upend the Bruins in seven games in the opening round of the playoffs.
“That’s playoff hockey,” said Panthers forward Steven Lorentz, who scored the first of Florida’s six unanswered goals after falling behind 1-0 in the first period.
That third period – really, that 2-minute, 17-second span in the third period – epitomized the feisty nature that was expected to come in this series. Florida was already up 4-1 when the first fracas began, with the Bruins’ Pat Maroon and the Panthers’ Nick Cousins getting the first round of misconducts 10:25 into the third period. Aleksander Barkov scored on the power play 27 seconds later to push the Panthers’ lead to 5-1.
Eleven seconds after that, following Boston’s first shot on goal of the period, the Panthers’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson was called for a cross-check before a full skirmish broke out. Four more players – Florida’s Dmitry Kulikov and Eetu Luostarinen, as well as Boston’s Justin Brazeau and Trent Frederic – were sent to their respective dressing rooms.
And then one final full-on scrum came a couple minutes later after Brandon Montour scored a short-handed goal for the Panthers to cap the scoring with 8:02 left to play. Yet another four players – Florida’s Sam Reinhart and Niko Mikkola, Boston’s Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy – left the game.
That set the stage for the Tkachuk-Pastrnak fight to end the third-period festivities in a game that was far out of reach.
“This is what playoffs is about,” Marchand, Boston’s captain, told reporters after the game. “This is where rivalries are built – in the playoffs. With last year, it kind of started there. They play a physical game, and we’re able to do that as well. It creates a lot of emotion and adrenaline. A lot of really good battles, guys are competing hard out there. You can see both teams want to win. They’re leaving it all out there.
“It’s going to be a physical series, we know that. That’s what fans love. It’s exciting. And it creates rivalries.”
And there’s no doubt about it that the bad blood will carry over to Friday.
Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman watches from the bench after getting pulled from Game 2 in the third period against Florida on Wednesday. Lynne Sladky/Associated Press
GOALIE SHUFFLE: Coach Jim Montgomery pulled Jeremy Swayman, but didn’t blame his goalie for Boston’s 6-1 Game 2 loss to the Panthers.
Swayman had put up absurdly good numbers in six games against Toronto and Game 1 against the Panthers – 5-2 with a 1.42 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage. But he allowed four goals before leaving less than two minutes into the third period. Linus Ullmark gave up two more in the 6-1 loss.
Montgomery didn’t think seven straight starts had worn down his goalie.
“The workload didn’t play into Jeremy Swayman. It played into our effort tonight. We didn’t have juice tonight,” he said. “Swayman was terrific. I thought about taking him out at 3-1 going into the third. Then the fourth one went in and I thought, ‘I’m taking him out now.’ He made two great saves before it went in.”
Swayman had 20 saves through two periods. Ullmark stopped eight in the third period.
Taking Swayman out at that point had two results that could help the Bruins in Game 3. It gave Swayman a little extra rest and allowed Ullmark not to be rusty should the Bruins choose to start him in Game 3. Ullmark hadn’t played a game in 16 days.
Ullmark has thrived against Florida in the regular season in his career. He is 12-3-1 with a .929 save percentage and a 2.47 goals-against average. He has more wins over the Panthers than any other team in his career. Ullmark was 3-0 with a .947 save percentage and a 1.62 goals-against average against Florida in 2023-24.
ROSTER MOVE: With Jesper Boqvist back and Danton Heinen getting closer, the Bruins sent Patrick Brown back to Providence.
He’ll rejoin the P-Bruins, who are competing in the AHL playoffs.
Brown was called up before Game 1 with Boqvist unavailable. He played 13 shifts over 8:27 centering Johnny Beecher and Patrick Maroon on the fourth line. Brown played 11 games for the Bruins this season and had one assist after signing as a free agent in the offseason.
He’s played 149 NHL games in his career. In addition to Boston, he’s played for Ottawa, Philadelphia, Vegas and Carolina and has 10 goals and 15 assists. The 31-year-old has 11 goals and 21 assists for 32 points in 42 games this year for Providence. The AHL Bruins are currently in a best-of-five playoff series with the Hartford Wolf Pack.
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