Panthers’ stifling, shutdown defense returns to form as Florida evens series with Bruins

The Florida Panthers thrived all season behind a gritty, suffocating defense.

After a one-game anomaly in their second-round series opener against the Boston Bruins on Monday, that strong defense returned on Wednesday as Florida cruised to a 6-1 win over Boston to even the best-of-7 series.

The Panthers held Boston to just 16 shots on goal against Sergei Bobrovsky — six apiece in the first and second periods and just four in the third period, a final frame that got chippy and feisty and featured a dozen players receiving game misconducts.

It was a fitting return to form for the team that allowed the third-fewest shots on goal per game in the regular season (27.8).

“I really liked our defensive game,” top-pairing defenseman Gustav Forsling said. “We boxed out, let Bob see the puck. That was a big difference.”

Of the 16 shots Bobrovsky had to defend, only five were high-danger shots, according to the advanced hockey statistics website Natural Stat Trick. He went more than 11 minutes in the third period before he faced a shot.

“I tried to just stay with the moment,” Bobrovsky said. “I don’t think much with what’s happening, how many shots or stuff like that.”

While Bobrovsky didn’t see much action in net, he did get a clear view of the physicality picking up on the ice down the stretch, with the game getting out of hand at points over the final 10 minutes.

Six players from each team — Nick Cousins, Eetu Luostarinen, Dmitry Kulikov, Niko Mikkola, Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk for Florida; Pat Maroon, Justin Brazeau, Trent Frederic, Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak for Boston — got kicked out of the game over the final 9:35 of regulation as tempers flared throughout the final frame.

The kicker of it all: Tkachuk and Pastrnak dropping the gloves at center ice.

“Man, you’re going to see that on the highlights over and over again,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I think it’s a good thing. You get two elite offensive players. Chucky’s a 100-point player. Pastrnak’s just this brilliant player, but it’s the playoffs. They each have their team. They’ve got their brothers in the room. It’s a little spicy out there and they want to go. I think it was awesome.”

And all that came after the Panthers’ complete turnaround from Game 1.

That stellar defense that kept Boston at bay also led to the Panthers executing on the offensive end. After getting just one goal on 39 shots in Game 1 against Jeremy Swayman and after falling behind 1-0 in Game 2, the Panthers got two goals from Aleksander Barkov and one apiece from Steven Lorentz, Forsling, Eetu Luostarinen and Brandon Montour on Wednesday.

Lorentz tied the game at 1-1 just 1:56 into the second period by re-directing a Montour shot from the point.

Barkov gave Florida the lead when he corralled a rebound from a Sam Reinhart shot and buried the loose puck on a nearly open net.

Forsling then put Florida up 3-1 when he blasted a shot from the point with 1.3 seconds left in the period.

When Luostarinen scored 1:28 into the third period on a feed from Barkov, Boston pulled Swayman for Linus Ullmark.

Florida capped scoring with a Barkov power-play goal and Montour shorthanded goal.

Overall, Barkov (two goals, two assists) and Reinhart (four assists) had four points apiece. Montour (one goal, two assists) had three.

It was the all-around dominant effort the Panthers needed to level the series.

Now, they need to carry the momentum as the series shifts over to Boston’s TD Garden for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday.