Panthers’ Best Chance to Steal Series Disappears as Bruins’ Depth Holds Up in Game 1 | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron hadn’t missed a playoff game since 2018, and their historic 2022-23 regular season likely doesn’t happen without his decision to return to Boston on a one-year contract.
The perpetual Selke front-runner ended the season third on the team in points, still very much at the top of the league when it comes to two-way forwards. Most importantly, he’s been a familiar leader as these Bruins and new head coach Jim Montgomery navigate their first season together.
The man played through a punctured lung during Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup, but the stomach bug that has been circulating the Bruins’ locker room presents a different liability because it’s contagious. At the wrong time, things were trending against the Presidents’ Trophy winners.
So the Bruins were without their captain for Game 1 against the Panthers. Everyone except Bergeron ended up good to go, but players weren’t completely certain about the lineup until warm-ups.
“He was around all day, he talked to us before the game,” said Jake DeBrusk, who scored in the Bruins’ 3-1 win. “He was watching here in the room. Obviously, he is such a presence, you can tell how bad he wants to be out there. But it’s one of those things we take as a team, it gives you a boost seeing him around. It’s one of those things where we want to do it for him, that was the main goal at the start of the year.”
The uncertainty surrounding the Bruins’ lineup, the possibility that some players weren’t at 100 percent health and the captain on the sideline would’ve been the perfect opportunity for the Panthers—who, for some reason, are taking exception to the “underdog” title—to steal a game and set things off in a different tone.
Instead, the 2022-23 Bruins kept on 2022-23 Bruinsing.
Ullmark, who had been sick all week but woke up Monday feeling fine, made 31 saves.
“I thought he was excellent, cool, calm, just real confident, seeing the puck really well, steering rebounds,” Montgomery said postgame at TD Garden. “It looked like there was a lot of chaos around our net, he’s just great at steering pucks to the bad areas or smothering them up. It really provides us with a lot of confidence and allows us to control the chaos.”
Tradition in Boston: Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman complete their celebration after the Bruins’ Game 1 Win.Rich Gagnon/Getty Images
And there was chaos. Florida outshot Boston 32-29, but in the end, Matthew Tkachuk was the only Panther to make it count.
There was, as there is every year, so much talk about the Presidents’ Trophy and its alleged curses headed into this postseason. But what happens when this trophy and all its bad vibes meet a team so good that luck isn’t needed?
Ullmark Ullmarks. Then David Pastrňák and his brand new mullet David Pastrňáks, with his signature power-play goal to open up scoring for the Bruins. Of course, Brad Marchand Brad Marchands, and his 50th career playoff goal was a far-away fluke that a playoff veteran has a specific eye for.
You’re generally going to need your stars to step up most nights in the playoffs, but the reason the Bruins feel downright unstoppable is depth. It’s Pavel Zacha stepping into Bergeron’s first-line center role without a hitch with a 59 percent faceoff percentage.
“For the last few years we’ve had that next man up mentality, Jake (Debrusk) Pavel (Zacha) and I spoke a lot about how we wanted to play and step it up,” Marchand said. “It’s just an opportunity when one guy goes down for someone else to step up, and Pav did an incredible job.”
Then there was Tyler Bertuzzi’s NHL playoff debut. The Bruins’ final acquisition of the NHL trade deadline won the 2017 AHL playoff MVP title with the Grand Rapids Griffins, and his hard-nosed, dirty-area style combined with his elite hockey IQ translated just fine at the highest level.
He ended the night with two assists, two big hits, a Panthers’ stick, more than 18 minutes of playing time, and high praise all around.
“He did great, he’s a competitor, he battles extremely hard,” Marchand said. “He’s just one of those guys you hate to play against, he brings it every night. A guy that you knew was going to show up and be a playoff-type player.”
“When we acquired him we thought he was a guy that was made for the playoffs,” Montgomery added. “I thought his first shift he laid out two huge hits, he just kept making plays. The puck just seems to follow him and he makes really good decisions with it.”
It was just one game, and Marchand mentioned the second one is usually harder to win. But the Bruins took the best opportunity the Panthers might have to gain an edge on this series and reminded us that the Presidents’ Trophy curse need not apply.
“Just gotta get 15 more,” Ullmark quipped.
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