SUNRISE, Florida — For the second straight game, the Bruins won by counterpunching.
Just like they did in Game 7 against Toronto, Boston gave up the first goal of the game, tied it in less than two minutes and controlled the game from there. The Bruins scored five unanswered goals after the Panthers broke the ice en route to a 5-1 win on Monday at Amerant Bank Arena.
Boston leads the best-of-seven series, 1-0. Game 2 is Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Sunrise.
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The lead was enough for Jeremy Swayman who made 38 saves.
Each goalie put a terrific save on their resumé in the scoreless first period. Swayman lunged across the crease to make a terrific leg save on Aleksander Barkhov in the first minute of the game. After David Pastrnak stole a pass and walked in alone, Sergei Bobrovsky stoned him with 7:00 minutes left.
The Panthers got on the board first in the second. Charlie McAvoy and Johnny Beecher misconnected on a breakout pass and Florida jumped on it. Aleksander Barkhov fed Bruins-killer Matthew Tkachuk, who fired a shot by Swayman to make it 1-0 with 8:15 left in the second.
In Game 7 against the Leafs, Toronto scored first, but Boston tied the game 1:21 later. The Bruins counterpunched even quicker in Florida as Morgan Geekie beat Bobrovsky, 1:07 after Tkachuck’s goal to make it 1-1.
Mason Lohrei’s first playoff goal was both pretty and important. The rookie’s growing confidence has turned into a more aggressive offensive approach. With 3:43 left in the second, he sniped a shot through the small hole under the crossbar, to right of Bobrovsky’s head and above his right shoulder to put Boston up 2-1.
Brandon Carlo, who didn’t accompany the Bruins to Florida to be present at the birth of his second child back in Boston. He flew down on his own in time to play and with 20.6 seconds left in the second fired a wrist shot past Bobrovsky to put the Bruins up 3-1.
Justin Brazeau continued the onslaught in the third, notching his first playoff goal, 7:13 into the third to make it 4-1 and Jake DeBrusk added an empty-netter late.
