Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2, Game 2: Florida Panthers 6, Boston Bruins 1

It’s only Game 2 of their second-round series, but what happens Wednesday night could very easily mark a critical point for the Florida Panthers’ run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Win, and they are tied 1-1 in the best-of-7 series with the Boston Bruins.

Lose, and they’ll find themselves in an 0-2 hole with the next two games being played in Boston.

So, yeah, the Panthers knew the importance of this one at Amerant Bank Arena.

And they executed in a 6-1 win.

Aleksander Barkov scored twice, while Steven Lorentz, Gustav Forsling, Eetu Luostarinen and Brandon Montour each scored a goal apiece.

Sam Reinhart finished with four assists.

And just as importantly, the Panthers’ defense returned to form by holding Boston to just 16 shots on goal — including only four in a third period that featured a dozen game misconducts.

The series is even, and now it shifts to Boston’s TD Garden for the next two games.

A shorthanded goal — and a lot of misconducts

Brandon Montour added to Florida’s tally with a shorthanded goal.

Meanwhile, the game has gotten feisty in the third, with 11 total game misconduct penalties handed out in the final frame.

Finally, a power-play goal

The Panthers scored their first power play goal of the season against Boston — their first in 19 attempts — when Aleksander Barkov beat Linus Ullmark from the slot with 9:08 left in regulation.

It’s 5-1 Florida.

Panthers keep building their lead

Florida took a 4-1 lead less than 90 seconds into the third period, with Eetu Luostarinen scoring on a feed from Aleksander Barkov after some extended offensive zone time.

Forsling caps stellar second period

The Panthers finished the second period with a 3-1 lead after Gustav Forsling’s blast from the point got past Jeremy Swayman with 1.3 seconds left in the frame.

Overall, the Panthers scored three goals on 14 second-period shots.

Anton Lundell and Brandon Montour were credited with the assists. Montour has two assists so far in Game 1.

The captain gives the Panthers a lead

The Panthers take a 2-1 lead 9:49 into the second period after Aleksander Barkov buries a loose puck following a Sam Reinhart shot on net. Nick Cousins was also near the net front with Barkov.

It’s Barkov’s third goal of the postseason.

Reinhart and Aaron Ekblad get the assists.

Panthers tie it up

It took less than two minutes into the second period for the Panthers to tie the game at 1-1, with Steven Lorentz redirecting a Brandon Montour shot from the point past Jeremy Swayman.

It’s Lorentz’s second goal of the postseason.

First period thoughts

The big takeaway from that opening 20 minutes: The Panthers had 28 shot attempts in the first period, and only seven of them got to Jeremy Swayman — and only two of those seven were considered high-danger shots according to the advanced hockey statistics website Natural Stat Trick. Boston blocked 12 shots, while the nine other attempts missed the net completely.

The Panthers being aggressive when they have the opportunity — and there were opportunities — is key, but so too is finishing those chances.

A few more tidbits...

▪ Carter Verhaeghe led the Panthers with three scoring chances.

▪ Florida went 0 for 2 on the power play in the first period and is now 0 for 16 on the man advantage against Boston this season.

▪ There were 48 total hits in the opening frame — 28 by Florida, 20 by Boston.

Updates on Panthers forward lines

It looks like Paul Maurice is mixing up his forward lines late in the first period.

Aleksander Barkov is now centering Sam Reinhart and Vladimir Tarasenko, while Lundell is back with Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk.

This puts Florida’s forward lines back to what they had been in Games 3, 4 and (the first two periods of) 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning following Sam Bennett’s injury.

Boston strikes first

After limited opportunities for both sides through the first half of the opening period, the Bruins’ Charlie Coyle opened scoring 12:12 into the first period.

Boston forced a turnover in the Panthers’ end, and Coyle, Pavel Zacha and Brad Marchand made their way to the front of Florida’s net nearly uncontensted.

Zacha fed the puck to Coyle, who buried a wrist shot to put Boston up 1-0.

Series recap and look ahead

▪ Game 1: The Bruins scored goals on each of their final three shots of the second period and never looked back to beat the Panthers 5-1 on Monday at Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena.

Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman made 38 saves, including stopping all 16 Panthers shots that came his way in the third period.

▪ Game 2: Tonight

▪ Game 3: Friday, Boston’s TD Garden, 7 p.m., TNT, truTV and MAX

▪ Game 4: Sunday, Boston’s TD Garden, 6:30 p.m., TBS, truTV and MAX

▪ Game 5 (if necessary): May 14, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena, Time and TV network TBD

▪ Game 6 (if necessary): May 17, Boston’s TD Garden, Time and TV network TBD

▪ Game 7 (if necessary): May 19, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena, Time and TV network TBD

Pregame reading

Need to catch up ahead of Game 2? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past two days.

▪ As Florida Panthers look to bounce back against Bruins, here’s what they need to fix

▪ The latest on second-line center Sam Bennett and his status to return during the series

▪ What led to Florida’s lapses in Game 1 loss to Boston? Panthers break down what went wrong

▪ Florida Panthers couldn’t get past Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman and start Round 2 down 1-0

▪ From columnist Greg Cote: Nothing comes easy for Florida Panthers vs. Boston. Cats need rebound after Game 1 home loss