By Zachary McMahon –
The Boston Bruins went down to Sunrise, FL to face the Florida Panthers for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Monday night. The Bruins advanced after winning Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday off an overtime goal by David Pastrnak. Meanwhile, the Panthers took the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 in the first round.
The Bruins called up forward Patrick Brown from Providence before the game as Danton Heinen was a game-time decision with an injury, and Heinen became inactive for the game. Brown had played in 11 games for Boston this season, and has played a total of 149 games across four other teams. He played 22 games in the playoffs with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Knights, with whom he scored three goals in the playoffs in 2020 and 2021.
The Bruins swept the season series 4-0 against the Panthers, but in the first round last season, they lost to Florida in Game 7 after being up 3-1.
The teams did not score for the first 31 minutes in the game, until Matthew Tkachuk scored the first goal for the Panthers in the second period. A minute later, Morgan Geekie scored the equalizer for the Bruins with assists from Pavel Zacha and Pastrnak.
Then the Bruins went off for four unanswered goals to make it 5-1, which included Brandon Carlo, who was a game-time decision due to the birth of his son.
Mason Lohrei had a goal and an assist, and Zacha added an assist to Lohrei’s goal which took the lead in the second period.
The goal run ended when Jake DeBrusk scored an empty-netter with three minutes left in the game with an assist from Brad Marchand.
Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman had an impressive game with 38 saves on 39 shots on goal, which is the most saves he has made in his career in the playoffs.
The Bruins will be staying in Florida as they will be playing Game 2 tomorrow with a 7:30 puck drop on ESPN.
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