3 Keys: Bruins at Panthers, Game 3 of Eastern 1st Round

(1A) Bruins at (WC2) Panthers
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 3
Best-of-7 series tied 1-1
7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, BSFL, NESN

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Eastern Conference First Round between the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers shifts to South Florida for Game 3 after the Panthers stunned the Bruins by taking a game at TD Garden to even the series 1-1.
After the Bruins had lost only four home games in regulation this season, the Panthers defeated them 6-3 in Game 2.
For Boston, Game 3 is all about righting the ship, even without captain Patrice Bergeron, who will not play the next two games because of an upper-body injury but is likely to return for Game 5.
For Florida, it's about momentum.
"I mean, in a perfect world, it would have been great to steal two," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "But after Game 1, this was all that was on our mind. We put ourselves in a position where we have home ice right now. It's about hanging onto it as long as possible."
RELATED: [Complete Bruins vs Panthers series coverage]
Meanwhile, the Bruins, who haven't faced much adversity during an historic season, when they set NHL records for wins (65) and points (135), will have to regroup quickly without their top-line center.
"I think the No. 1 lesson you learn is how hard it is to win in the playoffs," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. "Florida did a good job. I thought they had a real good game plan. … We've got to get better and we've got to execute better. I thought our work ethic was there. I didn't think our execution was great."
Here are 3 keys for Game 2:

1. Winning despite adversity

The Bruins have managed to win all season no matter who was in the lineup. They did it without forward Brad Marchand and defenseman Charlie McAvoy to start the season and they did it without Bergeron in Game 1. They're facing Game 3 without Bergeron again and perhaps without Ullmark as well.
"I think it's our job to go out there and have his back," defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said of Bergeron. "He's had us his whole career. We want to make sure we're playing for him no matter what. We'll miss his presence out there."
Boston has lost consecutive games in regulation only once this season, 5-3 at the Detroit Red Wings on March 12 and 6-3 loss at the Chicago Blackhawks two days later. Their longest losing streak this season is three games (0-2-1) from Jan. 26-29.

2. Turn down the turnovers

It was as if the Bruins couldn't stop turning the puck over in Game 2, with 15 giveaways, something that has been uncharacteristic of them this season, especially at home.
"I just think players that make the best decisions have moments," Montgomery said after Game 2. "I thought for the majority of the first two periods we were doing really good things with the puck. But the turnovers we had tonight were catastrophic. They were right through the middle of the ice … not typical. We usually have turnovers when other teams are forcing us or we're trying to make plays. It wasn't really in areas that you're typically trying to make plays where we turned it over."
Being responsible with the puck, normally a Boston hallmark, will be a focus Friday. Montgomery said he felt his team's work ethic was fine Wednesday, but its execution was not.

3. Hard on the forecheck

The Panthers are known for generating chances on the forecheck. They've got to double down on that in Game 3 if they want to take the lead in this series.
"It's huge," Florida center Sam Bennett said. "I think that's going to be key for us, getting on the forecheck, playing hard and finishing checks. We did a good job of that last game. So we're going to want to do a lot more of that tonight."
That was a big part of what led to the 15 giveaways by the Bruins, with the pressure coming hard from the Panthers.

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Charlie Coyle -- Trent Frederic
Taylor Hall -- David Krejci -- Jake DeBrusk
Tyler Bertuzzi -- Pavel Zacha -- David Pastrnak
Jakub Lauko -- Tomas Nosek -- Garnet Hathaway
Matt Grzelcyk -- Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort -- Dmitry Orlov
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman
Scratched: Jakub Zboril, Nick Foligno, A.J. Greer, Connor Clifton, Brandon Bussi
Injured: Patrice Bergeron (upper body)
Panthers projected lineup
Eetu Luostarinen -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk
Ryan Lomberg -- Anton Lundell -- Anthony Duclair
Nick Cousins -- Eric Staal -- Colin White
Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Marc Staal -- Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura -- Radko Gudas
Alex Lyon
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Givani Smith, Mike Benning, Casey Fitzgerald, Zac Dalpe, Evan Fitzpatrick
Injured: Patric Hornqvist (concussion)

Status report

The Bruins changed all four forward lines. … Lomberg will be in the lineup despite not taking part in the morning skate. … The Verhaeghe-Bennett-Tkachuk line finished Game 2 after Verhaeghe started the game playing with Barkov.
NHL.com independent correspondent Alain Poupart contributed to this report