Bruins no longer invincible, tides shift across NHL playoffs
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Having coached teams that long held the records for the most points and wins in an NHL season, Scotty Bowman knows the only concern for the Boston Bruins was what happened when they hit a rough patch.
“When you get adversity,” Bowman said, “it kind of gets your attention.”
After breaking the points and wins records and losing just 12 of 82 games in the regular season, the Bruins are finally facing adversity. They no longer look unbeatable after losing Game 2 to the Panthers 6-3 and go on the road to Florida looking to get their mojo back.
The Panthers piercing Boston's aura of invincibility was perhaps the most intriguing development for several first-round series as they shift locations for Game 3s on Friday night. Carolina is up 2-0 on the New York Islanders but now down another offensive star. Connor McDavid and Edmonton have awoken against Los Angeles and Minnesota, now 1-1 with Dallas, heads home with questions in goal.
Boston's most immediate question is what changes will come. Might captain Patrice Bergeron miss a third consecutive game? Will Jeremy Swayman replace Linus Ullmark in net? How about on defense after allowing six goals for just the second time all year?
“We're going to look at every option,” coach Jim Montgomery said.
BRUINS at PANTHERS, series tied 1-1 (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT)
Panthers goalie Alex Lyon is a smart guy. He went to Yale. He knows that Florida stole home-ice advantage from Boston — and that there’s no reason to further poke the bear right now.
“They are a very talented opponent,” Lyon said after stopping 34 shots for his first career NHL playoff win. “I don’t even want to say anything. They’re so good.”
That they are. Among the many ridiculous stats put up by the Bruins in the best regular season in NHL history: They were 14-2-1 after a loss.
“We knew it was going to be a hard series — definitely not one we expected to walk through," Bruins winger Brad Marchand said. “We move on. We’ll forget about this one now and start regrouping and see where we can improve.”
Florida knows what’s coming. Boston seems primed to bring its best in Game 3.
“We can’t take our foot off the gas,” Lyon said. “It’s just going to continue to get harder from here on out.”
HURRICANES at ISLANDERS, Carolina leads 2-0 (7 p.m. ET, TBS)
The only playoff team to win its first two home games, Carolina heads to Long Island on a roll but without another offensive star after losing Teuvo Teravainen to a broken hand.
They were already missing Max Pacioretty, who re-tore his right Achilles tendon in January, and Andrei Svechnikov, who had ACL reconstruction surgery on his right knee. Coach Rod Brind'Amour said Teravainen was having surgery Thursday to put pins in for “pretty bad damage" after what he called a “tomahawk chop” from New York's Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
“You’re losing big pieces of your team — it’s hard," Brind'Amour said. "But we’ve done it all year. We’ve found ways. We’re just going to have to put somebody else in there and pick up the slack."
That could fall to winger Jesse Puljujarvi, Carolina's only trade deadline acquisition up front who was a healthy scratch for the first two games.
Either way, the Hurricanes will try to win on the road after going 0-6 away from Raleigh in the 2022 playoffs.
“We don’t need to change much,” defenseman Brady Skjei said. “We’ve been playing well so far and I think if we bring that game on the road, we’ll be fine.”
The Islanders were quick to turn the page after a missed high-sticking call on Carolina's Jordan Martinook right before Jesper Fast's Game 2 OT winner. Scott Mayfield, who was clipped by Martinook's stick, said it's all about Game 3 now.
“You just move on,” coach Lane Lambert said. "There’s no point in dwelling on it.”
STARS at WILD, series tied 1-1 (9:30 p.m. ET, TBS)
Filip Gustavsson made a franchise playoff-record 51 saves in Minnesota's double overtime Game 1 victory. Still, the Wild started Marc-Andre Fleury against Dallas in Game 2, sticking with a rotation they used all season.
Fleury allowed seven goals for just the second time in his NHL playoff career and first in 11 years, and the Stars won 7-3 in what has been a rugged series. Fans jeered him and the 38-year-old three-time Stanley Cup winner called his play embarrassing.
"Both goalies have earned obviously to be in the net. We made the decision to go with (Fleury)," coach Dean Evason said afterward. “We didn’t do the right things in front of our goaltender.”
Asked if he was inclined to stick with the rotation, Evason said, “It's the same as we always do.” The smart money is on Gustavsson returning, but the Stars are clicking offensively now and may have figured out how to hang with the bruising Wild.
“Hopefully we can keep doing that,” said defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who is tied with teammate Roope Hintz with five points.
OILERS at KINGS, series tied 1-1 (10 p.m. ET, TNT)
Holding Connor McDavid without a point in the series opener should win the Kings some kind of award. It's no surprise the presumptive league MVP got on the scoresheet in Game 2 — a perfect pass to set up Leon Draisaitl's power-play goal — and now McDavid could just be getting started.
A bigger worry for the Kings heading home for Game 3 might be his longtime running mate. Draisaitl is tied for the postseason scoring lead with five points and has been, in coach Jay Woodcroft's opinion, “the best player on the ice through two games in this series, by far.”
"I feel a lot better, especially my leg," Draisaitl said a year after gutting through a high ankle sprain for much of the 2022 playoffs. “It's nice to feel this way. We've got a tough couple games coming up here but I'm feeling good, feeling healthy and, knock on wood, hopefully it stays that way.”
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AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen, Tim Reynolds, Aaron Beard and Stephen Hawkins contributed.
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