The Boston Bruins' historic 2022-23 season is in danger of ending in disastrous fashion.
The Florida Panthers staved off elimination in their first-round playoff series against the Bruins with an overtime win in Game 5, and then they won an absolutely wild Game 6 at FLA Live Arena on Friday night. The Panthers coughed up three leads before ultimately winning 7-5. The result is a do-or-die Game 7 on Sunday at TD Garden.
Sloppy puck management again doomed the Bruins. They gave up the puck with regularity and the Panthers took advantage several times for goals. Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark also played one of his worst games of the season. He gave up six goals on 32 shots.
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There were a couple positives from this game. David Pastrnak rediscovered his scoring touch with two power-play goals. Tyler Bertuzzi tallied three points (two goals, one assist) and the power play went 3-for-4 overall.
The Bruins set an NHL record for the most wins (65) and most points (135) during the regular season. They had a 3-1 lead in this series just a few days ago. None of that matters now. If they lose Sunday, their season is over.
Before we look ahead to that decisive matchup, here are three takeaways from Bruins-Panthers Game 6.
1. Self-inflicted wounds continue to hurt B's
The Bruins were credited with 15 giveaways in Game 2 and two of them led directly to Panthers goals in a 6-3 loss. They had 17 giveaways in Game 5 and the Panthers capitalized multiple times, including the winning goal in overtime.
You'd think the Bruins would tighten up and play with more poise when handling the puck, but that was not the case in Game 6. After the Bruins tied up the score 1-1 in the first period, the Panthers regained the lead when Connor Clifton made an absolutely horrendous pass up the middle of the ice that ended up on the stick of Nick Cousins. A 2-on-1 rush ensued for the Panthers and Matthew Tkachuk buried the rebound.
The Panthers' third goal featured more lack of awareness and poor defending by the Bruins in their own end.
Hampus Lindholm shot the puck over the glass halfway through the third period for a delay of game penalty. The Panthers scored on the ensuing power play to tie the score 5-5.
If that wasn't bad enough, Clifton gave away the puck again later in the period on a failed pass up the boards and the Panthers scored to go ahead 6-5 with 5:38 remaining.
The Bruins were not this bad handling the puck during the regular season. Not even close. But for some reason, they have been very careless with their passing in this series. Breakouts out of their own end have been executed so poorly at times.
This series should have been over in five games, but when you gift a good team nine or 10 goals, you run the risk of starting your summer vacation early.
2. Panthers' top stars rise to the challenge
Matthew Tkachuk has easily been the Panthers' best player in this series. He has scored in each of the last three games with a team-leading 10 points (five goals, five assists) overall. He found the back of the net twice in Game 6, including the Panthers' fifth goal during a third-period power play.
But it was going to be tough for Florida to win if its other top stars didn't show up.
One of those high-end players who needed to improve dramatically was first-line center Aleksander Barkov, and he rose to the challenge in Game 6.
Boston Bruins
After being held without a goal for the first five games, Barkov found the back of the net in the second period. He also picked up an assist on the opening goal. First-line left wing Carter Verhaeghe assisted on Barkov's goal. Veteran defenseman Brandon Montour, who tallied 73 points in the regular season, scored a goal with one assist. Montour has four points in the last three games.
The Panthers' best players have led the charge in the last couple games, and especially Friday night. It's given them a chance to shock the world Sunday in Boston.
3. Clifton/Forbort pairing was a disaster
The decision to remove Matt Grzelcyk from the lineup proved to be a horrendous decision by Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery. Grzelcyk was a healthy scratch and replaced by Connor Clifton, who played the worst game of his career at the worst possible time.
Clifton's turnover in the first period led to a Tkachuk goal, and another giveaway in the third period led to the game-winning goal by Eetu Luostarinen.
Grzelcyk is an excellent skater. He's also great at breaking out of the defensive zone with hard, accurate passes up ice. This kind of skill set is exactly what the Bruins were missing in Game 6. Grzelcyk being in the lineup for Game 7 should be a no-brainer. Clifton should not see the ice again unless an injury requires him to be in there.
The Panthers had a 12-3 edge in scoring chances, a 6-1 lead in high-danger chances, a 20-10 advantage in shot attempts and a 3-0 goal differential during Clifton's 13:07 of 5-on-5 ice time Friday night.
This is how the Bruins should set their blue line for Game 7:
Matt Grzelcyk--Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm--Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort--Dmitry Orlov