The Boston Bruins lost home ice advantage in their first-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers with a 6-3 loss in Game 2, but it didn't take long for them to get it back.
The Presidents' Trophy winners gained a 2-1 series lead with a 4-2 win over the Panthers in Game 3 at FLA Live Arena on Friday night. It is Boston's first victory in Florida this season after going 0-1-1 during the regular season. The Panthers scored twice late in the third period to cut the Bruins' lead in half, but that's all the scoring Florida was able to generate.
The Bruins' depth needed to shine because both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci were not in the lineup. Krejci was a late scratch due to an upper body injury.
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Charlie Coyle played like a top-six center, Brad Marchand made an impact in all three zones, Taylor Hall got his first goal of the playoffs and the entire team handled the puck much better compared to Game 2. The B's had 15 giveaways on Wednesday night and two of those turnovers led directly to Panthers goals. They weren't as careless with the puck in Game 3.
Game 4 is Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. But before we look ahead to that matchup, here are three takeaways from Bruins-Panthers Game 3.
1) Coyle steps up with Bergeron/Krejci out
Losing your top two centers is pretty tough, especially when they're as good as Bergeron and Krejci. The Bruins needed one or more of their centers to step up in their absence after a largely lackluster performance from this group in Game 2.
Coyle rose to the occasion and gave a fantastic effort at both ends of the ice. He put the Bruins up 2-0 six minutes into the second period with a phenomenal deflection in front of the net. Coyle earned that goal, too, after winning a battle for position at the top of the crease against Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, who stands at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds.
In addition to his goal, Coyle tallied eight shot attempts, five scoring chances, five shots on net and played 1:36 for a Bruins penalty kill that went a perfect 2-for-2.
Coyle's performance is even more impressive when you consider the Panthers clearly made a point to target him on almost every shift. It wasn't a surprising strategy from Florida given Boston's issues at center without Bergeron and Krejci. Coyle was hit and cross-checked a bunch of times by Panthers players. Sam Bennett took a run at Coyle in the second period and was penalized for interference. The fact that Coyle played so dominant while being the center of the Panthers' attention was pretty encouraging for Boston.
Boston Bruins
2) Ullmark bounces back from rough loss
Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark earned his second win of the series with a very good performance in net. The likely Vezina Trophy winner made 28 saves on 30 shots, including stops on all seven high-danger chances he faced at 5-on-5. The only goals he gave up came on a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush where he had very little chance to make a save and a 6-on-5 pulled goalie situation late in the third period.
Ullmark's bounce-back performance wasn't a surprise because he has responded like this all season. He gave up three or more goals 13 times during the regular season, and in his next start after those games he posted a .941 save percentage and a 1.76 GAA. Ullmark gave up five goals in Game 2 on Wednesday night, and then he stepped up in Game 3 by allowing just two goals with a .933 save percentage. The Swedish netminder is now 8-1-0 with a .935 save percentage following a loss this season. He very rarely has two lackluster performances in a row.
Ullmark appeared to be in some discomfort after making a save late in the second period. He was a game-time decision Friday morning but felt good enough to play. It'll be interesting to see if the B's start backup Jeremy Swayman in Game 4 on Sunday to give Ullmark some rest. There's an extra off day between Game 4 on Sunday and Game 5 on Wednesday.
3) Strike first, protect the lead
Boston had a league-leading 43-1-3 record when scoring first during the regular season. They are 2-0-0 in this series when scoring first, and in Game 3 it was Taylor Hall who got the B's on the board at 2:26 of the opening period.
The Bruins also were 36-1-1 when leading after one period and 47-1-2 when leading after two periods during the regular season. They are 2-0-0 in this series when leading after 40 minutes.
The Bruins are a very difficult team to play catch-up hockey against. They are fast, skilled, well-structured defensively and have elite goaltending. One of the most impressive aspects of the Bruins' win Friday night was their attack mentality even after going up 1-0 and then doubling that advantage to 2-0. They kept attacking and eventually bolstered their lead to 4-0 in the third period. Their effort level was much more consistent compared to the first two games.
4) Orlov shows off elite passing skills
Orlov has picked up an assist in all three games of this series, and he tallied two helpers in Game 3. They were both highlight-reel plays, too.
Hall's goal in the first period was the result of a hard, accurate long pass by Orlov, who noticed that Panthers defenseman Marc Staal got caught too high up the ice and made him pay.
Orlov earned another primary assist on David Pastrnak's third-period goal that increased Boston's advantage to 3-0. The veteran defenseman made another tremendous long pass that hit Pastrnak in stride.
Orlov became the first Bruins defenseman to tally at least one point in each of his first three playoff games with the franchise since Glen Wesley in 1988. The Russian defenseman loves to have the puck on his stick and make plays. Sometimes it leads to turnovers, but more often it results in scoring chances for his team, and that was certainly the case in Game 3.