Playoff Takeaways: Bruins reassert dominance, take 2-1 series lead over Panthers

The Boston Bruins entered Game 3 against the Florida Panthers without captain Patrice Bergeron, without veteran centerman David Krejci and with a cloud of questions hovering over their heads following an uncharacteristically flat performance two nights earlier.

Would Boston’s lack of adversity all season fail them when they need it most? Might we see a change in net? Was the absence of Bergeron too much to overcome against a hungry opponent?

It took them less than three minutes of Game 3 to reassert their dominance and remind everyone why they put up the best regular season in NHL history.

Starting with Taylor Hall’s game-opening goal 2:26 into the first frame, the Bruins controlled the pace with their signature structure. And while it was Boston that was playing without its top two centres, it was Florida’s offence that looked shorthanded thanks to the Bruins almost entirely shutting down the Panthers’ top six for most of this matchup.

Charlie Coyle, David Pastrnak and Nick Foligno — who pregame was reportedly a healthy scratch candidate before Krejci was ruled out with an upper-body injury — all scored goals in what was an eventual 4-2 win that gives Boston a 2-1 series lead.

Amid an impressive offensive outing, it was the contributions of defenceman Dmitry Orlov that really stood out. The former Washington Capital, who was dealt to Boston ahead of this year’s deadline, has been a force in the playoffs and, on Friday night, flexed his playmaking muscles. First, he connected with Hall for the game’s opening score and then in the third period sent another perfectly placed stretch pass to Pastrnak for the prettiest goal of the game.

His pair of helpers gives him a total of four through three playoff games.

According to head coach Jim Montgomery, "We saw Boston Bruins hockey today."

"We needed everybody to start playing. I felt we had some passengers (in previous games),” he told reporters. “Tonight, we didn't have any passengers. So, that mindset was great to see.”

He did not provide any updates on the status of Bergeron or Krejci, although he previously said the Bruins captain is "likely" to play in Game 5.

“We're built for the long haul,” he said. “Yeah, we'd love to have Bergy. Injuries are gonna happen. And we believe that we have the depth to overcome numerous injuries and I think the effort tonight is a good example. It should give everybody confidence, because I thought everybody contributed to our victory today."

Loss of Ekblad puts Panthers’ comeback hopes in peril

Boston isn’t the only team in this series whose depth is being put to the test. Midway through the second period of what was at that point a 2-0 game favouring Boston, Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad collided with McAvoy in Boston’s zone. Both players fell, with Ekblad holding his head before immediately skating off and heading down the tunnel.

The rearguard did return in that same period, but took only a single shift before leaving the game for good. Making matters worse was an injury to fellow defenceman Josh Mahura later in the game. By the time Brandon Montour was tossed from the game after things got chippy, Florida was down to just three d-men.

Despite a late surge on offence, with Gustav Forsling getting Florida on the board late in the third followed by Sam Reinhart finally making his mark — with an assist from a very quiet Aleksander Barkov — Florida was completely overmatched.

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice didn’t have any updates on Ekblad post-game but said he would know more Saturday.

Islanders make history with late scoring spree at UBS

Leave it to one of the league’s lowest-scoring teams to set a goal-scoring record in the post-season.

For 56 minutes of Game 3 between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders, we saw the series we all expected — a series whose first two games had been tightly contested and heavy on the defence. But with four minutes to go in a game locked at 1-1, New York put on a rare scoring spree to cut Carolina’s series lead in half and secure a 5-1 victory in the very first playoff game at New York’s UBS Arena.

Kyle Palmieri got things started on the power play at 16:09 of the third before assisting Matt Martin’s marker just 44 seconds later. Scott Mayfield registered an empty-netter at 18:11, with Anders Lee finishing things off 16 seconds after that for a total of four goals in a span of just 2:18. That’s the fastest a team has ever scored four goals in a post-season game.

Wild outhit, overpower Stars at home

Sure, Minnesota Nice is a thing. Just don’t cross-check their favourite player. Considering the many years Ryan Suter played for the Wild, you might expect a warmer reception for the longtime Minnesotan. But after he delivered a vicious cross-check to Kirill Kaprizov in Game 1 — one of a few Stars players to knock him around early in the series — he wasn’t exactly greeted warmly in his old hockey home. Chants of “Suter sucks!” could be heard early on, with the crowd booing each time he touched the puck.

It was yet another example of the budding hatred between these two franchises in what has been the roughest, toughest, meanest series of the bunch.

Even before the puck dropped on Game 3, it was a war of words between coaches, with diving accusations flying.

But the story of Game 3 — yeah, in addition to the rough stuff — was the performances of Mats Zuccarello and Ryan Hartman, who drove the Wild to a dominant 5-1 win. Hartman, who was Game 1’s overtime hero before missing Game 2 with an injury, returned to the lineup and played hero once again. He assisted on both of Zuccarello’s goals before scoring his own on an empty net to end the game and give Minnesota the 2-1 series lead.

After a dominant showing by the Dallas Stars in Game 2 to the tune of a 7-3 series-tying win, the pressure was on the Wild as this matchup moved north to Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson got the start again after Marc-Andre Fleury’s Game 2 loss and made 23 saves for the win.

The only thing that didn’t go right for Minnesota was the early exit of Joel Eriksson Ek. The team’s top centreman was set to make his series debut after suffering a lower-body injury earlier this month, but skated in just a single shift Friday night before leaving the game.