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Morgan Geekie tied it for the Bruins just over a minute later, Mason Lohrei ripped one shortside past Sergei Bobrovsky three minutes after that to give Boston the lead, and Brandon Carlo — fresh off a flight from Boston after his wife gave birth in the early hours of Monday morning — capped off a second-period flurry to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead after two. Justin Brazeau got in on the fun with a partial breakaway goal in the third period, and Jake DeBrusk put the icing on the cake of a huge win with the empty-netter. Get Garden Party A seasonal pop-up newsletter covering everything you need to know about the Celtics' and Bruins' postseasons. Swayman's only blemish came on Tkachuk's goal — which took a deflection from a screening Hampus Lindholm on the way — as he made 38 saves to further cement his case to do away with the Bruins' goalie rotation and give him the keys for good. Here's how the Game 1 upset unfolded. Click here to refresh | Sign up for Garden Party, our Bruins/Celtics playoff newsletter | More Bruins coverage Busy weekend? Get caught up with our Bruins coverage ahead of puck drop. ⋅ Tara Sullivan: One goal changes narrative for Jim Montgomery's Bruins as team moves past first-round survival ⋅ Six keys for the Bruins in their second-round playoff series vs. the Panthers ⋅ Kevin Shattenkirk's words of wisdom carry weight for Bruins during playoffs ⋅ Kevin Paul Dupont: The Bruins' survival, the Maple Leafs' heartbreak, and other final thoughts from an absurd first-round series ⋅ Bruins at Panthers: Boston's chance at redemption has arrived in the second round ⋅ It's Bruins vs. Panthers in the second round of the NHL playoffs. See the schedule and results here.A special night for Brandon Carlo — 11:05 p.m.
Nobody in this game had a crazier 24 hours than Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo, whose wife Mayson delivered the couple's second child in the early hours of Monday morning.
He hopped on a flight from Boston, arrived less than two hours before puck drop, and scored a special playoff goal to commemorate the birth of his first son.
"Been wild for sure, but so blessed," Carlo told ESPN's Scott Van Pelt after the game. "This group, in general, from Game 7 through here, I'm just so fortunate to play with these guys.
"So proud of my wife, we had our baby around 3 a.m. last night. Pretty busy night, wasn't sure if I was going to make it in time, but thankfully I did.
"I'm so proud of her, bringing that little boy in the world is a super special thing for me, and scoring for him is something I'll remember forever."
Final: Bruins beat the Panthers in Game 1, 5-1.
Impressive start for the Bruins, who get goals from Geekie, Lohrei, Carlo, Brazeau and DeBrusk.Swayman stellar once again — 38 saves on 39 shots.
Game 2 is set for Wednesday night. — Conor Ryan
Jake DeBrusk puts the icing on the cake, and that's five unanswered goals for the Bruins to put this one away. What a way to get the series started on the road for Boston. — Amin Touri
Jake DeBrusk delivers the empty-net dagger. 5-1 Bruins. — Conor Ryan
And the locals are heading for the Elbo Room. Or E11even. Or much better yet, Mac's Club Deuce. — Matt Porter
Florida is getting aggressive early, pulling Sergei Bobrovsky with just over five minutes to the play and the Bruins still leading, 4-1. Plenty would have to go wrong for Boston not to close this one out with the way Jeremy Swayman is playing between the pipes. — Amin Touri
I was vouching for Ullmark for Game 1 — but man, can you really go away from Swayman if he submits another performance like this? — Conor Ryan
We might be pouring one out for The Rotation. Worth noting there's one extra day off before Game 5* and 6* (*if necessary). — Matt Porter
With 9:19 to play, the Bruins still lead, 4-1. Jeremy Swayman still looks unbeatable, with 35 saves on 36 shots from the Panthers, who are running out of time to stave off a Game 1 upset. That said, it's been one-way traffic for some time here in the third, and Boston needs to relieve some pressure soon.
Justin Brazeau joins the party. Slick finish. 4-1 Bruins with 12:47 to play. — Conor Ryan
"I love to find players on the scrap heap." — Don Sweeney, probably — Matt Porter
Your goal scorers tonight for the Boston Bruins:
Morgan Geekie
Mason Lohrei
Brandon Carlo
Justin Brazeau
Just as we all predicted! — Conor Ryan
Yeah *cough* as I was saying, the Bruins are a deep and powerful team, offensively ... — Matt Porter
Ekblad slashes Pastrnak on the hand on that post-PK breakaway ... McAvoy two-hands Ekman-Larsson in the back during a scrum ... we play on. — Matt Porter
Montgomery calls a timeout. Way too much traffic in front of Swayman in this period. — Conor Ryan
Panthers outshooting the Bruins 11-1 in the first six minutes of the third. They're pushing, all right. — Matt Porter
Jeremy Swayman just can't be beat right now. He stones the Panthers on multiple chances, turning aside five shots in total, as the Bruins kill off another penalty. — Amin Touri
Swayman might have one of those shields from "Dune" around him. Legitimately do not know how that puck didn't go in. — Conor Ryan
And the Panthers fall to 0-3 on the power play tonight. Including the four regular-season games, they're 0-14 on the man-up against the Bruins this year. — Matt Porter
An absurd pile-up in front of the net — and Jeremy Swayman emerges from it laughing. — Conor Ryan
We're underway for the third period, with 20 minutes standing between the Bruins and a crucial Game 1 win on the road. Jeremy Swayman has been nearly flawless, turning away 23 of 24 Panthers shots, the only blemish coming from a bad turnover and a deflection on the way; Boston would love one more period like that from its netminder.
Swayman's defensemen aren't making it easy; Hampus Lindholm is hit with a holding call, and the Bruins are on the penalty kill early.
Wondering how Pastrnak is doing after that collision with Chris Rooney. Jokes about Southie guys being tough aside, Pastrnak didn't look comfortable immediately after the hit. — Matt Porter
Really looked stunned right after the play — wasn't sure if it was more of a "bruh, what are you doing" reaction — but he did seem to be a bit more rigid in that period. — Conor Ryan
To pull it back a bit: chat, how worried are we about McAvoy? I thought he was playing like a top-40 defender against Toronto, not the top-5 guy he has shown he can be. Jittery with the puck and too quiet in his game overall. — Matt Porter
Had a maddening Game 7 in terms of his puck play — especially when it came to not firing off pucks in short order. That's a rough turnover against Florida's top line. The Panthers are already going to make life miserable for Boston's puck carriers in this series with that forecheck — can't be gifting them chances like that. — Conor Ryan
Well isn't this a surprise — after scoring three times in the last eight minutes of the second, the Bruins lead, 3-1, through 40 minutes down in Florida. Matthew Tkachuk's opener was quickly canceled out by Morgan Geekie's putback, before Mason Lohrei roofed one to give Boston an unexpected lead in Game 1.
Brandon Carlo made it 3-1 with 21 seconds left in the stanza, and the Bruins have a commanding advantage heading into the third. — Amin Touri
Before the series: I dunno if the Bruins can score enough to win this series.
Second period of Game 1: Lohrei and Carlo are sniping absolute rockets. — Matt Porter
Just a special day for Brandon Carlo. Hours after the birth of his second child, Carlo rips bar-down past a screened Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 3-1 with 21 seconds to play in the third period. Looked like David Pastrnak went and grabbed the puck for Carlo — that'll make a nice gift for new baby Crew. — Amin Touri
Dad strength engaged. Brandon Carlo makes it 3-1 Bruins. — Conor Ryan
Mason Lohrei is cooking. The rookie rips one shortside past Sergei Bobrovsky, and the Bruins have turned this one around in a hurry. Boston leads, 2-1, with 3:43 left in the second. — Amin Touri
Mason Lohrei has arrived. What a shot. 2-1 Bruins. — Conor Ryan
The Lohreiders are out in full force tonight. Is he gonna mess around and pull a 2013 Torey Krug on us? — Matt Porter
That's just what I thought of. Sure feels like a similar script. Really thought that '13 Rangers team was going to win it all. — Conor Ryan
The sort of mental mistake that will drive Jim Montgomery crazy — the Bruins are hit with a bench minor for too many men on the ice. Boston kills it off with some confidence, even possessing the puck for stretches, but that's not the kind of mistake the Bruins can afford in this series. — Amin Touri
Make that four (4) too many men penalties for the Bruins so far this postseason. — Conor Ryan
One minute, 7 seconds after Matthew Tkachuk's opener, Morgan Geekie ties the game, with Pavel Zacha tied up with Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky just outside the crease. — Amin Touri
And just like last game, the Bruins come right back and secure the equalizer. Geekie scores and it's 1-1. — Conor Ryan
There's that Panthers forecheck — Florida creates a turnover, the puck falls to Matthew Tkachuk, and Florida's star forward rips a wrister past a screened Jeremy Swayman — with a little touch off of Hampus Lindholm — to give the hosts the lead at 11:45 of the second. — Amin Touri
Surprise, surprise. Matthew Tkachuk opens the scoring for Florida.
Bad D-zone turnover — McAvoy bank pass that goes behind Beecher. — Conor Ryan
Not a great start for Lindholm and McAvoy with the turnovers. That power pair needs to be lockdown and rock-solid against Tkachuk's crew. — Matt Porter
Midway through the second period, and the Panthers just put together their most extended period of pressure since the opening minutes. But Jeremy Swayman had the answer to everything Florida threw at him, and we remain scoreless with 10 minutes left in the second period. The Bruins need Swayman's best to have a chance in this series, and they're getting it halfway through Game 1.
Mason Lohrei also had a huge chance from the goal line after making a slick move at the point, but Sergei Bobrovsky — on his backside, with some help from the pipe — denied him. — Amin Touri
The poise and confidence we've seen from Mason Lohrei is really night and day from what we saw back in October. — Conor Ryan
He's so confident with the puck. He can beat the first guy most of the time with his length, either by striding or stickhandling. The fact that he's beating the second layer some of the time is really encouraging. Walks the line a bit, too. What a nice find at 58th overall.
Panthers with a 9-1 shots edge in the first 10 minutes of the second, with a few just-missed chances. Barkov and Tkachuk have been snapping it around. — Matt Porter
The puck is down for the middle frame, and the Bruins didn't create much in the final minute of their first power play. The pace is still high, and Jeremy Swayman has already made a couple big saves early in the second.
One period is in the books, and despite plenty of chances at both ends, we're scoreless after one. After conceding the first five shots of the game, the Bruins lead in that department, 13-9, after 20 minutes. — Amin Touri
Bruins power play incoming, with the final minute to be played at the start of the second period, with Reinhart off for a high stick. Bobrovsky has been an adventure in net, which means a couple of absurd Grade-A stops.
Bruins held a 7-2 edge in high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5 play. They're generating quality looks against Bobrovsky around the net. — Conor Ryan
Bruins have to be happy with this first period. They were hemmed in for a couple of long shifts, but had a fair bit of possession in the offensive end. They're moving the puck sharply enough. Swayman looks fantastic. They'll start the second on the power play after that flurry drew a stick infraction.
Also: pretty light call on Reinhart. If that's the standard for this series, we're going to be playing 3 on 3. — Matt Porter
Moments after the Bruins fairly comfortably killed off the first penalty of the night, David Pastrnak got a golden chance after a turnover, all alone with Sergei Bobrovsky — Pastrnak tried to deke the Panthers netminder but ran out of room, and we're still scoreless with six minutes left in the first. — Amin Touri
Huge stop by Bobrovsky on Pastrnak — Ilya Samsonov winces in pain somewhere in Toronto. — Conor Ryan
Sergei Bobrovsky makes a huge stop, but a great read from David Pastrnak to force a turnover.
Pastrnak has looked great early in Game 1: pic.twitter.com/GbwU3aNWl9
— Evan Marinofsky (@EvanMarinofsky) May 7, 2024
An aggressive wrap-around play and Grade-A look from Coyle. More of that is needed for the veteran in order to get him going. He had a very strong start in the Florida series last April by playing a simple, puck-possession game around the net. — Conor Ryan
The Marchand-Coyle group just ate against Florida's third line. You want to hem in Tarasenko and Co. if you're the Bruins. He's a liability. — Matt Porter
Very fast-paced start here in Game 1, with the Panthers swarming on the forecheck and the Bruins struggling to get out. But David Pastrnak comes closest to opening the scoring, firing one off the post and wide from the right circle. Game has plenty of jump to it. — Amin Touri
Stop if you've heard this before, but the Panthers are making things happen thanks to their forechecking pressure against Boston's puck carriers. — Conor Ryan
Good news for the Bruins: Forbort looks healthy early in this one. Showed some decent burst to recover after a loose puck scooted into the Bruins' zone. He has to be more than a puck-eater if the Bruins are to survive this aggressive-as-heck opponent. — Matt Porter
The puck has dropped for Game 1, and both teams already get a decent look on net.
A minute in and Swayman is doing Swayman things. Maybe he doesn't need to rest after all. — Matt Porter
Bruins rolling out a super-pairing of Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy tonight. Panthers are countering with an overloaded top line of Matthew Tkachuk-Aleksander Barkov-Carter Verhaeghe.
That's a heavyweight matchup. — Conor Ryan
Here is Boston's projected lineup, based on line rushes, from Conor Ryan:
Marchand - Coyle - DeBrusk
Zacha - Geekie - Pastrnak
Van Riemsdyk - Frederic - Brazeau
Beecher - Brown - Maroon
Lindholm - McAvoy
Lohrei - Carlo
Forbort - Wotherspoon
Swayman
Forbort had two rehab-assignment games in Providence (April 19, 21). He hasn't played an NHL game since March 2, after which he had two surgeries (upper body and lower body ailments, which is ... not what you want if you're an athlete).
He has been banged up all year, and played through it. Ideally, he's healthy, and ready to make a quick first pass against this furious Panthers forecheck. — Matt Porter
Bruins desperately need a strong series from both Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha — especially if they hope to match Florida's high-octane offense.
Coyle only had two power-play points over seven games against Toronto, with Jakub Lauko standing as the only other Bruins forward who didn't record a point during 5-on-5 play against the Leafs. Zacha finished with two assists in the Toronto series, but has yet to score a goal in 19 career playoff games. The 27-year-old center only won 39.8 percent of his faceoffs against the Leafs.
Zacha elevated his game against Florida during regular-season action, recording five points over four matchups against the Panthers. He scored an OT winner on Oct. 30 against Florida before tallying the game-winning goal in Boston's comeback victory in Sunrise on March 26. — Conor Ryan
It's Jeremy Swayman's net for the sixth consecutive game.
Both Patrick Brown and Jesper Boqvist are taking part in warmups, but based on line rushes, it looks like Brown is going to slot in for Boqvist on the fourth line. Brown was skating with Johnny Beecher and Pat Maroon — or Florida.
Both Patrick Brown and Jesper Boqvist are taking part in warmups, but based on line rushes, it looks like Brown is going to slot in for Boqvist on the fourth line. Brown was skating with Johnny Beecher and Pat Maroon.
Looks like Derek Forbort might be slotting back in the lineup, he's skating alongside Parker Wotherspoon. Bruins will need to get the ice bags ready against a Panthers team that peppers the net — both from Grade-A ice and the blue line. — Conor Ryan
Brown, 31, played in 11 NHL games this year, recording an assist. His last apperance was on Nov. 24. The former Boston College captain put up 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in Providence, and 1-2--3 in two playoff games. This is Brown's first playoff game as a Bruin. He saw spot duty in the playoffs for the Hurricanes (2019) and Golden Knights (2020, '21).
The Brown move is interesting ... he isn't as fleet as Boqvist, but he's more rugged (6-1, 210) -- and much better on draws, especially on his strong side (right). The Bruins were pitiful on faceoffs for most of the Leafs series. — Matt Porter
By Conor Ryan
Matthew Tkachuk didn't mince words when asked about any dip in intensity from the Panthers after bouncing the Lightning in five games during the first round of the playoffs.
"We're going to be playing probably our next-biggest rival, so there will be no emotional letdown," Tkachuk said.
The Panthers and Bruins have plenty of history, with Florida shredding Boston's storybook season last spring via a stunning first-round upset. The Bruins will have a chip on their shoulders in this rematch, coupled with the momentum generated from Saturday's season-saving triumph over Toronto.
But the Panthers are arguably the best team in the NHL, boasting plenty of depth, an underrated defense, and a brand of hockey built for the postseason.
Here are six keys for the Bruins if they hope to flip the script and bounce the Panthers.
Read the full story here.
By Tara Sullivan
If a collective sigh could be put to a volume meter, the one that emanated from TD Garden late Saturday night would have been off the charts. If a collective burden could be weighed in pounds, the one that was lifted off the ice on Causeway Street could have broken some scales.
After a grueling seven-game series, with its dramatic overtime victorious finish, the Bruins finally shed the long, dark shadow of a year ago. They didn't squander all of their 3-1 series lead this time around, a home-ice win in Game 7 bringing joy in place of last year's despair. So it was with relief in their lungs and hope in their hearts that they headed to Florida, off to slay the next demon of these Stanley Cup playoffs, the big, bad, bruising Panthers who'd bounced them from last year's first round.
Amazing what one game, one goal, can do to change a narrative.
Read the full column here.
Among the questionables for Game 1 was defenseman Brandon Carlo, whose wife Mayson delivered the couple's second child, Crew, this morning.
Carlo hopped on a flight as soon as possible, and arrived in time to suit up for the Bruins for Game 1.
By Conor Ryan
Kevin Shattenkirk wasn't the one who nearly lifted the roof off TD Garden Saturday night with a season-saving overtime tally.
He didn't bank a pass off the end boards to orchestrate another Game 7 triumph for the Bruins over the Maple Leafs — nor did he score from the left circle to give Boston life with 9:38 left in regulation.
Shattenkirk ranked last in ice time among Bruins defensemen at 10:29. Only fourth-liners Jesper Boqvist (8:32) and Pat Maroon (8:30) logged less.
But in the wake of Boston's triumph, Brad Marchand credited the 35-year-old for his role in shelping punch the Bruins' ticket to the second round of the playoffs.
Read more here.
By Kevin Paul Dupont
So, hockey being what hockey is, often a front-row ticket in the theatre of the absurd, the Bruins escaped with a dramatic, Garden-roof-lifting win in Game 7 Saturday night and advanced to Round 2 of their Stanley Cup 2024 magical mystery tour.
The series favorite entering Game 1 Monday night in Sunrise, Fla.: No question, the Panthers. They're rested, they're slick, they're brassy, fashioning a style that general manager Bill Zito recently labeled "graceful brutality."
Oh, how the Bruins of decades ago would have chewed through their leather gloves, wooden Sherwoods, and empty cans of 'Gansett to swashbuckle into a best-of-seven series framed in brutality. The word alone summons images of a stuffed dummy, stitched in Pat Quinn's likeness, hanging from the old Garden's second balcony.
They were brutal, magnificent times, and how we loved them.
Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs left Causeway Street in the wee hours of Sunday morning still in search of their first Stanley Cup since '67. The big wheel of time keeps on turnin', and forever flattening Southern Ontario's long-faded dynasty.
Read the full story here.
Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com. Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him @mattyports. Conor Ryan can be reached at conor.ryan@globe.com.
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