Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 17: Swayman stops 38 in Bruins win 5-1 in Game 1

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 17: Swayman stops 38 in Bruins win 5-1 in Game 1
Credit: © Sam Navarro

The Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins find themselves in a playoff series for the second year in a row, and both had a fish to fry in this one. The Panthers were hoping to continue the momentum that started in that series last year and go on another deep playoff run, while the Bruins were looking to avenge their first round defeat that saw them blow a 3-1 series lead.

Much like a lot of the hockey we’ve watched lately, this game took a while to get the scoring underway. In fact, it wasn’t until more than halfway through the game that we got the first goal of the game. A flipped puck out of the Panthers zone created chaos in the Bruins zone, and chaos is where Matthew Tkachuk thrives, as Aleksander Barkov generated a turnover and Tkachuk eventually buried the game-opening goal.

But the Bruins only needed 67 seconds to respond. This time it was the Panthers’ zone that ensued in chaos, with David Pastrnak pouncing on a bad bounce and throwing it on net, and it was Morgan Geekie that would find the puck on his stick with a mostly empty cage to tie the game.

From there, it was all Bruins. Later on in the second, Boston took a 2-1 lead courtesy of a gorgeous snipe from Mason Lohrei.

And then Brandon Carlo, who just welcomed a new child into the world earlier on Monday, used his new dad energy to go bar down and make it 3-1.

The Panthers pressed to get back into the game in the third period, but just couldn’t beat Jeremy Swayman. And then to disrupt any further momentum, Justin Brazeau cemented the Game 1 victory with his first career playoff goal.

Jake DeBrusk finished off the game with an empty net goal, and the Bruins went on to win Game 1 by a score of 5-1. Despite the five goals, only Lohrei and Pavel Zacha had multi-point nights, while Swayman stopped 38 of 39 shots in the win.

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