RECAP: Bruins 2, Panthers 1

SUNRISE, Fla. – They knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

Missing out on their first opportunity to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Final, the Florida Panthers came up just a bit short in a 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.

With the action shifting back to TD Garden for Game 6, the Panthers still hold a 3-2 series lead.

“You play a seven-game series for a reason,” Panthers forward Sam Reinhart said. “It’s not always going to go your way. You try and learn from it. There’s some things we can do a little bit better. We’re going to learn from it, we’re going to recover and we’re going to come back.”

In defeat, the Panthers owned a 25-19 edge in scoring chances.

They also missed on 13 shots.

“It was a 2-1 game that I think if both teams hit their empty nets or the stuff they missed the net on, maybe we lose, but we lose 8-7,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “The goalies were really good, but it wasn’t like that. Lots of broken plays. I didn’t like our first [period]. … I never felt we got to the way we looked. But even with that, we had our opportunities.”

Getting the Bruins on the board early, Morgan Geekie slipped into the slot unnoticed and beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a slick backhand shot to make it 1-0 at 4:49 of the first period.

Tested often in the opening 20 minutes, Bobrovsky stopped 12 of 13 shots.

“He’s been exceptional all year for us,” Reinhart said. “He kept us in it, especially in that first half until we were able to get our legs under us a little bit.”

Building up some momentum after a perfectly executed penalty kill in the second period, the Panthers evened the score when Reinhart overpowered a defender, pounced on a loose puck in the slot and ripped the rubber past Jeremy Swayman to make it 1-1 at 6:23.

In the TV timeout that occurred not long before the Panthers were finally rewarded with a goal, Maurice was seen on the bench have a spirited conversation with his players.

“I wasn’t mad at them,” Maurice said with a smile. “I understood what they were going through. I just thought they needed some profanity in their life, and I brought some.”

Reinhart said the point of the message was to simply “up the intensity a little bit.”

Putting the Bruins back on top, Charlie McAvoy took advantage of some bodies in and around the crease and fired a shot into the twine from the slot to make it 2-1 at 10:25.

The Panthers challenged for goaltender interference, but the goal stood.

Keeping the deficit to just one goal, Bobrovsky came up with two huge saves in rapid succession right after a power play had expired for the Panthers. Seconds after stoning DeBrusk on a breakaway, the crafty veteran stopped Trent Frederic’s rebound attempt.

Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves, while Swayman made 28.

“They’re two elite goalies,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “When they’re on their games, it’s fun to watch and tough to play against. It’s fun to watch Bob (Bobrovsky) and then tough to play against him (Swayman). There’s reason a lot of people talk about them.”

With time winding down in regulation, Bobrovsky added one more key save to his highlight reel when he denied David Pastrnak in a 1-on-1 situation from right on top of the blue paint.

After pulling their goaltender late in the third period, the Panthers nearly found the tying goal they needed but were denied a trip to overtime when Swayman came up with a clutch save against Reinhart on a shot from just to the left of the net with a few seconds left.

Looking ahead to Game 6 on Friday, the Panthers are eager to bounce back.

“It’s all good,” Barkov said. “Just come [back] and work hard.”

THEY SAID IT

“They (the Bruins) had a good start. They played really well today. All credit to them, they won the game. That’s it.” – Aleksander Barkov

“They (the Bruins) came out a little better than us and got the momentum. I think it shifted our way in the second, but it’s hard to come back from a start like that.” – Kevin Stenlund

“We were able to find our game in the second [period], but couldn’t convert on some of our chances.” – Sam Reinhart

“Outside of a playoff series, everything is very extreme. The hockey actually isn’t. We need the playoffs to all be jacked up and great, but we lost a 2-1 game where the shots ended up being even and we weren’t very good in the first. After that we were pretty good with some chances. That’s it. That’s how I feel about it.” – Paul Maurice

CATS STATS

- The Panthers won 53.1% of their faceoffs.

- Aleksander Barkov recorded a team-high three takeaways.

- Sam Reinhart fired off a team-high eight shots on goal.

- Sam Bennett had a team-high five hits.

- Brandon Montour saw a team-high 25:12 of ice time.

- The Panthers went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill while allowing just three shots on goal.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Leading the series 3-2, the Panthers will take another shot at eliminating the Bruins when they return to TD Garden for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Second Round on Friday.

Stay tuned for watch party information.