Nothing comes easy for Florida Panthers vs. Boston. Cats need rebound after Game 1 home loss | Opinion

The Florida Panthers learned how good they can be, and what is possible for them, one year ago.

The Boston Bruins taught them.

The lesson learned was not forgotten.

Now it will be needed again -- after Boston quieted the home crowd Monday night with a 5-1 victory in Game 1 in the Sunrise barn to open the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs.

A much better performance and result in Game 2 back home Wednesday night is needed.

A gloating “Let’s go Bruins” chant arose from visiting fans near the end. It was a full year inthe making.

One year ago in the first round Florida trailed the heavily favored Bruins 3-1 in the series as it headed back to Boston. The Panthers’ season seemed finished. But it was just getting started.

Three straight wins followed, inspiring the Cinderella Cats all the way to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup Final in 27 years.

“It all started then,” said Aleksander Barkov. “Games 5-6-7 showed that when we play really hard, everything is possible. And it’s carried over to this year.”

Said Matthew Tkachuk of that epic comeback: “It showed we can beat anybody, no matter what building and what atmosphere we’re in. It brought us super-close together, that series. And the effects of that series are still being shown now.”

A 3-1 series hole didn’t prove too much for the Panthers last year.

A 3-1 hole in Game 1 did on Monday.

Boston had the better of a scoreless first period, leading in shots on goal 13-9 -- with two or three of the Bruins’ shots meriting Bobby-chant-worthy saves by Sergei Bobrovsky. The Bruins’ defense was stout, too, blocking eight Panthers shots in the opening period and easily leading in hits, too.

It proved a harbinger.

“Big chunk of things we didn’t like,” coach Paul Maurice said of Game 1.

The scoresheet stayed blank well into the second period, the game tightrope-taut, the series waiting for one team to lay the earliest claim.

The goals drought would end with the blast of the home horn.

Cats stars Tkachuk and Barkov were paired together on the first line Monday, and it cashed on Tkachuk’s slap-shot goal off a pinpoint pass from Barkov at 11:45 of the second.

The lead wouldn’t last, alas. Well, it did for all of 67 seconds, when Bruin Morgan Geekie made it 1-1 at 12:52. Soon after Boston scored again, this time by Mason Lohrei.

“With the 2-1 goal we started to do some unusual things,” said Maurice -- meaning defensive lapses and giveaways.

The nightmarish second period would end in a 3-1 hole for Florida thanks to Brandon Carlo’s dispiriting score with only 20.6 seconds left.

“Big goal for them at a big time,” said Tkachuk.

Carlo’s wife had delivered a baby boy, Crew Corbett Carlo, at 3 a.m., and he flew in for the game Monday afternoon.

“We liked all the C’s involved in the name,” he explained.

Nary another Bobby chant would be heard in a second period Bobrovsky might grimace to rewatch. But, “It wasn’t Sergei,” said Maurice.

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad seemed to especially struggle.

“He’ll be better the next game,” said Maurice. “Like the rest of us.”

Boston made it 4-1 in the third and by now Bruins fans in the house were emboldened to be heard full throated as Justin Brazeau scored. The final score came on Jake De Brusk’s open-netter with 3:22 left.

The Bruins beating Florida were cubs, not grizzlies. None of Boston’s five goal scorers ranked among the team’s top five during the season. The middle three scorers had only 13 goals combined all season.

Game 1 was a rest vs. rust situation, with Florida having a full week off after eliminating Tampa Bay 4-1 in the opening round while the Bruins needed all seven games (and overtime in the last) to survive Toronto and advance.

“Everybody’s got potential advantages. They’ve got a rhythm advantage. We’re fairly rested,” Maurice had spun it going in. But he downplayed both the impact of that and also of Florida’s comeback and heartbreak-ouster of Boston a year ago.

“All of the things of the past mean nothing. The puck drops, none of [what happened before] matters,” he said. “The whistle blows and the game’s gonna get played and that’s it. There are no secrets. We’re divisional rivals. The series will be very close,very physical and contested. It will be heavy and hard.”

Likewise the Bruins’ 4-0 regular season record vs. Florida was moot, said the Panthers, especially with two of those games requiring OT.

“We’re like, the regular season doesn’t matter,” as Tkachuk put it.

Except that Monday night made it 5-0 this season, Bruins over Cats. And part of that is Florida’s 0-for-14 skid on power plays vs. the Bruins in those five games.

Maurice had seemed half-kidding after Monday’s morning skate when asked about preparing his team for Game 1.

“We don’t have another job,” he said. “That’s all we do.”

Back to work, then.

Historically in NHL annals, teams that go up 1-0 in a postseason series win 68.1 percent of the time. When that 1-0 lead is achieved on the road like this one, it’s 56.3 percent. Both teams each have three games remaining at home in the series, with Game 2 Wednesday, Game 5 and Game 7 if needed all back in South Florida.

Boston winning the opener should not surprise much, not after the regular season series. The Bruins also had the better record most of the season until the Panthers snatched the division title on the final day.

Yet Florida entered as the clear favorite in this series. Anecdotally, 23 of 24 voters on ESPN’s experts panel predicted a Cats series win. (Only Steve Levy is feeling smart today.)

The week’s layoff should be no excuse. Not when you lead 1-0. It isn’t as if the Cats fell behind early.

“I personally love it,” Tkachuk had said of the layoff. “It feels like we’re just about to start the playoffs now. We’re refreshed. Rest is so important this time of year. It’s a little bit of a challenge, but hopefully our rested legs can take over at some point.”

“All the bruises are gone and we feel really strong,” said Maurice.

The pressure now heaps on Florida to win Game 2 Wednesday and even the series as it heads north.

Then again, it isn’t the must-win pressure the Panthers dealt with masterfully three games in a row a year ago against this opponent.

“It showed we can beat anybody, no matter what building and what atmosphere we’re in,” Tkachuk had said of that experience and its carryover. “The effects of that series are still being shown.”

We shall see about that now, starting Wednesday night.