Playoff Takeaways: Bruins, Swayman show fight to keep season alive

Can the Boston Bruins go 1-for-26?

In their 100-year history, the Bruins have been down 3-1 in a playoff series on 25 occasions and not one time were they able to claw back and claim the set.

With a 2-1 road victory in South Florida on Tuesday night, though, they’ve taken a step toward a potential franchise first and — at the very least — forced a sixth game with the Florida Panthers back in Boston on Friday night. 

The Bruins might lobby the league to switch Game 6 venues, though, as Boston is now 4-2 on the road this spring as opposed to 2-4 on home ice.

This series just continues to get tighter and tighter. The scores of the first three games were 5-1, 6-1 and 6-2. The past two outings have finished 3-2 and 2-1.

Of course, it was one year ago when these same teams met in Round 1 that Florida fell behind 3-1 to a record-setting, 135-point Bruins squad, only to claw back and claim three straight contests to oust the B’s.

This time out, it’s the underdog Bruins who are trying to exact revenge on the favoured Floridians. 

There’s still a long way to go, but Boston — playing without injured captain Brad Marchand for the second consecutive outing — showed plenty of fight in Game 5. Here are some takeaways from this massive Bruins victory.

‘Sway’ what you mean

No Bruins player has factored more prominently in the team’s success this post-season than Jeremy Swayman. After Game 4, the proud puckstopper said, “We’re going to go to Florida and we’re going to get it done.”

Mission accomplished.

Swayman, who actually muffed a shot that wound up leading to Florida’s only goal, was perfect other than that, stopping 28 of 29 Panthers shots, including 24 over the final two frames.

His biggest save of the night was reserved for the dying seconds of the contest when an absolutely exhausted Bruins group — which was playing five-on-six with the Florida net empty — broke down in coverage and left Sam Reinhart completely unmarked to Swayman’s right. A wicked backhand pass from Brandon Montour hit Reinhart and gave the sniper a solid beat-and-half to figure out how to squeeze his second of the night past Swayman, but the Bruins goaltender stared him down, dropping to one knee and blocking the low shot with paddle of his stick pressed to the ice.

For as good as Swayman was, Sergei Bobrovsky basically went save for save with his counterpart. In fact, the game-winning goal was challenged by the Panthers for goalie interference and — as was the case in Game 4 when a Sam Bennett goal against Swayman stood up to a Boston protest — the coach’s challenge in Game 5 went for naught despite the fact there seemed to be some grounds for the original call to be overturned. 

While the challenge didn’t go Bobrovsky’s way, he stayed focused and made a handful of big-time stops to keep his team within striking distance.

Both tenders brought their ‘A’ game in this one.

Mac finally attacks

Charlie McAvoy has constantly put his body on the line during the playoffs, throwing and receiving big hits while playing well over 25 minutes a night — a full three minutes more than the next-busiest Bruin — for his squad.

However, the points just haven’t been there.

McAvoy entered Game 5 with just four assists in 11 post-season outings and he hadn’t actually found the net in a playoff game since the second round of the 2021 derby, a span of 29 scoreless games.

That changed when he drove toward the net in the middle frame, took a drop pass from Charlie Coyle and whipped the puck past Bobrovsky on the goal the Panthers wound up unsuccessfully challenging.

McAvoy is a monster for the B’s and if he can get a little more involved in the offence, it would be a huge development for Boston.

B’s still shooting themselves in the foot

Somehow, some way the Bruins have taken a half-dozen too-many-men penalties in these playoffs. Their second of this round occurred 11:28 into the third period and it felt like a certainty Florida was going to score and tie the game just as karmic comeuppance for a Boston squad that continues to make clumsy changes. 

However, the Bruins dug deep and killed it off.

In general, Boston is spending way too much time in the box, having taken a playoff-worst 50 minor penalties this spring. 

Bad firsts continue for Florida

The Cats came home with a chance to clinch their second straight appearance in the Eastern Conference final. But instead of jumping all over a potentially vulnerable opponent, Florida managed all of four first-period shots while falling behind 1-0. 

The Panthers have just five first-period goals this spring as opposed to nine against for a minus-4 differential.

If they want to avoid a winner-take-all Game 7, they’d be well advised to start better in Boston in Game 6 on Friday.