Boston could never really make it interesting as they trailed 2-0 in the first period, got their only goal midway through the second then Tuukka Rask (19 saves, 26-12-5) gave up a soft shorthanded goal that he has to stop when it matters (say in the playoffs in a few weeks). It's tough to get to down though on a team that is tied with Calgary (48-23-7) for the second most points in the NHL. Furthermore, before this no-show, they had won 12 straight games at the Garden and earned points in 14 in a row (12-0-2) here. Likewise, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand saw their 17-game home point streaks end in front of mostly children and their families on a sunny Saturday in late March.
Florida has been an underachieving team for years; at least if you look at their collection of talented young forwards and defensemen, you wonder why they haven't been more of a factor in the Eastern Conference. Truth be told, Luongo and/or their lack of other quality goaltending options have been their biggest issue for why they'll miss the playoffs once again in 2018-19. They have the No. 2 power play in the NHL which isn't the be-all end-all but a top line of Jonathan Huberdeau (2 assists), Aleksander Barkov (assist) and Evgeni Dadonov (2 goals) is pretty nice. Of course, it doesn't help matters that they play in the toughest division in hockey with Tampa Bay (59-14-4), Boston and Toronto (45-25-7) all looking down on them. Carey Price is the only reason they aren't better than the Canadiens (41-29-8) in my humble opinion, how else can you explain why Montreal is a playoff contender and they aren't?
The puck luck was on the Panthers' side all afternoon (side note Boston had been 7-0-1 in matinees this season before this) from start to finish. A loose puck bounced in off of Riley Sheahan at 13:37 of the first period for a 1-0 Florida lead. Dryden Hunt (that can't be a real name) and Milton MA's own Keith Yandle had the assists on Sheahan's ninth goal of the season. A juicy rebound kicked out by Rask led to another goal for the Panthers a little over two minutes later: Dadonov potted the goal (his 27th of the season), from Aaron Ekblad (game-high 25:20 of ice time) and Huberdeau at 15:44.
Fittingly for such a crap performance, Boston's fourth line was the only one cited positively in head coach Bruce Cassidy's post-game remarks. Noel Acciari cut it to 2-1 at 13:12 of the second period after an awesome shift by Torey Krug (tying his career-high from last season with 45 assists) who threw the puck across the ice and the former PC standout put in a working man's backhander. His sixth goal of the season was also assisted by Joakim Nordstrom. B's fans finally had something legitimate to cheer about but Rask managed to end that quickly by allowing Troy Brouwer to beat him blocker side for a backbreaking shorthanded goal at 14:19. BC's Mike Matheson had the second assist on Brouwer's 11th goal of the season.
The Bruins outshot the Panthers 31-23 and had 61 shot attempts (20 blocked, 10 missed net) to their 35 (8 blocked, 4 missed net) but in the end (Lincoln Park voice, sorry that's very dated and quite lame) it didn't matter one bit. Dadonov scored an empty-net goal at 17:41 of the third period and everyone went home slightly upset. Granted it's tough to be that angry on a Saturday unless you are truly a psycho. Even if Toronto (45-25-7) wins as expected tonight at tanking Ottawa (27-44-6), the Leafs would still trail Boston by four points while both have four games remaining in the regular season. That is not an insurmountable lead for the B's but they appear unlikely to blow that while Toronto is all over the place.
Enough of these worthless matchups against clubs that will be sitting on a tropical beach and drinking their faces off by next Sunday. Speaking of which, Boston is at Detroit (30-38-10) tomorrow night (7:30, NBC Sports) to start their final (Midwest) road trip that also includes stops in Columbus (43-30-4) on Tuesday (7, NESN) and Minnesota (36-33-9) on Thursday (8, NESN) before returning for their home/regular season finale vs. the Lightning next Saturday afternoon (1, NESN). The Red Wings have won four games in a row which I suppose is swell but that franchise is still a hot pile of garbage. Jaroslav Halak (21-10-4) will be in net as the Bruins try to improve on their stellar records this season in Game 2s of back-to-backs (9-2-2) and Game 2s of three games in four days (11-3-2).
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