Shorthanded Bruins Beat Panthers 4-2 to Regain Home Ice Advantage

No Patrice Bergeron. No David Krejci. No Problem.

Down their top two centermen the top seeded Boston Bruins played their most complete game of the Playoffs and snatched back home ice advantage from the Florida Panthers with a decisive 4-2 Game 3 victory.

The Bruins got goals from Taylor Hall, Charlie Coyle, David Pastrnak and Nick Foligno. Linus Ullmark – who was a game time decision himself – bounced back with a solid effort, stopping 28 shots after allowing 5 goals in the Bruins game 2 loss.

Boston now leads the best of 7 series 2-games-to-1 with Game 4 on Sunday in Florida.

“We saw Boston Bruins hockey today,” said Bruins head coach Montgomery after the game. “We needed everyone to start playing. I felt we had some passengers. Tonight, we didn’t have any passengers.”

The Breakdown

Hall got the Bruins started early. The Bruins winger took a long pass from Dmitry Orlov and beat Alex Lyon on a long wrister glove side through a partial screen to give Boston the lead just 2:26 into the game.

Coyle made it 2-0 six minutes into the second period on a deflection off a shot from the point by Brad Marchand for his first goal of the postseason.

David Pastrnak chased Lyon when he beat the Panthers goalie, again glove side with a wrist shot. It was Pastrnak’s second goal of the series and the 32nd playoff goal of his career.

Lyon was replaced in net by Sergei Bobrovsky but he didn’t fare any better. A little over 3 minutes after he entered the game Nick Foligno scored Boston’s 4th goal on a nifty backhand in tight. Foligno was not initially slated to play but was inserted into the lineup after Krejci was a late scratch with an upper body injury.

The Bruins ran into a couple problems late allowing a shorthanded goal to Gustav Forsling and another from Sam Reinhart with the goalie pulled.

But that’s as close as Florida would get as Boston held on for the 4-2 win.

3 Stars

Charlie McAvoy: McAvoy was a bulldozer from the opening shift till the last whistle. The Bruins defenseman registered a team high 8 hits including a tone-setting check early on Eetu Luostarinen.

Charlie Coyle: Coyle bumped up 2 lines due to injuries to Bergeron and Krejci and did not look at all out of place, The Bruins center continues to be one of Boston’s best forwards this series. Coyle has been especially effective using his body as evidenced on his goal when he fought for position out front and deflected Marchand’s shot past Lyon.

“It’s tough to replace a couple guys like that. You can’t. You can’t solely do that,” Coyle told reporters postgame. “It takes everyone. You could tell everyone kind of brought that tonight. … You can’t replace a Patrice Bergeron or a David Krejci. You just can’t. But we do it together. Every guy pitches in. I thought it was a really solid effort all around.”

Nick Foligno: Foligno scored a goal and finished the night a plus 1. He registered 4 hits and had 4 shots on goal. An all around excellent game for someone who was originally slated to be a healthy scratch.

That’s What He Said

Quote of the night goes to Nick Foligno describing the physicality of Charlie Coyle.

“He’s just a man. That’s a weird compliment, but it is. He’s a beast,” Foligno told reporters. “He’s so lanky and so long, but also strong. When he puts his body into a puck or another body, you’re not getting it. He really drives our team that way. When he plays that way, it’s amazing how he leads like that. I just thought tonight, you know, his puck battles and his commitment. What a play on the goal he scores. When he puts his body into guys, there’s not anyone in the league that can defend him. We’re so privileged to have him on the team, a guy that’s a big-minute player for us. He really stepped up tonight for us.”