3 Keys: Bruins at Panthers, Game 5 of Eastern 2nd Round

(2A) Bruins at (1A) Panthers 

Eastern Conference Second Round, Game 5

7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SNO, SNE, TVAS, CBC

Florida leads best-of-7 series 3-1

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers can advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the second straight season with a victory against the Boston Bruins in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.

The Panthers have won three consecutive games to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series, but they expect the Bruins to raise their level of play to try to avoid elimination.

“I don’t think too much changes,” Florida forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “It’s obviously going to be their best and we’ve just got to keep on doing what we’re doing and playing the right way and try to stick to what we do best in our game.”

The roles are reversed from when the Bruins took a 3-1 series lead on the Panthers in the first round last season before Florida reeled off three consecutive victories to win the series. Boston also held a 3-1 series lead against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round this season and was pushed to a Game 7 before advancing with a 2-1 overtime win.

“We put ourselves in this position, down 3-1,” Bruins defenseman Andrew Peeke said. “But we just have to take it game by game, day by day. That’s our focus here. Obviously you guys saw last series what Toronto was able to do to us, and obviously last year with how the series went with Florida and Boston last year.

“So I think for us, we’re do-or-die right now, so we have to come out with that mentality and take advantage of it.”

The Bruins will be without captain Brad Marchand for the second straight game because of an upper-body injury the forward sustained in a collision with Panthers center Sam Bennett during Game 3. He has skated the past two days and there appears to be a chance he can return for Game 6 if Boston can extend the series.

“Our focus is on our structure, our execution and getting ready for Game 5,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “Now, giving [Marchand] an opportunity is extra motivation, yes.”

The Panthers are 3-0 in their history when leading a best-of-7 series 3-1. The Bruins are 0-25 in their history when trailing 3-1 in a best-of-7 series.

Here are 3 keys for Game 5:

1. Play with intelligent desperation

Though that should come naturally for the Bruins, it's also important they don't let circumstances cause them to make mistakes they normally wouldn’t out of their eagerness to turn the series around.

Conversely, Florida saw in its 6-3 loss in Game 4 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning what can happen when becoming passive with a chance to close a series. The Panthers corrected and won 6-1 in Game 5, but don't want to give the Bruins any reason for hope.

“Both teams now, we deal with different emotions,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “They’ve got the desperation advantage, but it can’t cross a line into changing the way they play. And then we’ve got that desire [to close the series]. I don’t think we skated particularly well in Game 4 of the Tampa series. That will be where our starting point is. We’ve got to skate.”

2. Shoot the puck

That’s what Bruins fans were chanting watching their team get only two shots on goal in the third period of a 3-2 loss in Game 4 on Sunday. Boston is not a high-shot volume team, going for quality over quantity. The Bruins are 15th in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in averaging 24.7 shots on goal per game, ahead of only the Vancouver Canucks (20.2).

Still, Boston needs to find a way to test Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky more. The 18 shots the Bruins had in Game 4 actually were their most in the past three games, following 15 in Game 2 and 17 in Game 3.

“I think a little more traffic would be good,” Bruins center Morgan Geekie said. “They do a good job of trying to keep us outside the dots and not allowing us to get to the net. But I think if we can try to get to the hard areas of the ice and grow our game that way, get some more shots from the point, I think that will be good.”

3. The Swayman factor

Boston's defensive play is more to blame than goalie Jeremy Swayman is for reaching this point in this series, but with the Bruins being outshot by more than a 2-1 margin the past three games (107-50), the goalie might need to steal a game on the road to extend the series. After not allowing more than two goals and going 5-2 with a 1.42 goals-against average and .955 save percentage in his first seven postseason starts, Swayman has given up 12 goals on 96 shots for a 4.56 GAA and .875 save percentage in losing his past three.

Though Swayman and Linus Ullmark rotated in net for most of the regular season, Swayman has started nine straight games. Ullmark last started a 3-2 loss in Game 2 of the first round (three goals allowed on 34 shots), so it appears it will be up to Swayman to help pull Boston out of this 3-1 hole.

Bruins projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- Morgan Geekie -- David Pastrnak

Danton Heinen -- Charlie Coyle -- Trent Frederic

James van Riemsdyk -- Pavel Zacha -- Justin Brazeau

Jakub Lauko -- John Beecher -- Pat Maroon

Mason Lohrei -- Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo

Parker Wotherspoon -- Andrew Peeke

Jeremy Swayman

Linus Ullmark

Scratched: Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jesper Boqvist, Patrick Brown, Jayson Megna, Brandon Bussi

Injured: Brad Marchand (upper body)

Panthers projected lineup

Vladimir Tarasenko -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Evan Rodrigues

Steven Lorentz -- Kevin Stenlund -- Kyle Okposo

Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola -- Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Dmitry Kulikov

Sergei Bobrovsky

Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Nick Cousins, Ryan Lomberg, Tobias Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich, Spencer Knight, Rasmus Asplund, Mike Benning, Magnus Hellberg, Matt Kiersted, William Lockwood, Mackie Samoskevich, Justin Sourdif

Injured: None

Status report

The Bruins recalled forwards Brown and Megna, as well as Bussi, a goalie, from Providence of the American Hockey League on Monday. … The Panthers will dress the same lineup for the third consecutive game. ... Reinhart will play after taking a puck to the face and leaving at 4:30 of the third period during a 3-2 win in Game 4 on Sunday.

NHL.com staff writer Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report