Brad Marchand’s exit and other thoughts on the Bruins’ Game 3 loss

Bruins

Boston’s penalty kill, which had been solid throughout the playoffs, allowed four power play goals to the Panthers on Friday.

Maybe reality is starting to set in for the Boston Bruins.

After experiencing peaks of emotion during their Game 7 overtime thriller against the Toronto Maple Leafs and their Game 1 triumph against the Florida Panthers, the Bruins appear outmatched against the best team in the Atlantic division.

Jeremy Swayman once again did everything he could to bail out his team. But after a rocky end to their second game at Sunrise, the Bruins struggled to support their fourth-year goaltender in all areas of the ice.

By the opening of the 20th, tensions had eased. There was little trace of the difficult moments late in Wednesday’s game, highlighted by David Pastrnak’s fight with Matthew Tkachuk.

Bad escapes, sloppy clearance attempts and ineffective shot selection led to another slow start.

Evan Rodrigues got the Panthers going after simply sliding his stick under the bar to beat Swayman on a rebound at 8:14 of the first.

Florida took advantage on both ends of Mason Lohrei’s double minor for sticking high in the bottom of the second. The Panthers extended their lead to 3-0 at 17:14 of the second period after Vladimir Tarasenko and Carter Verhaeghe scored on the power play just a minute apart.

Without an injured Brad Marchand (upper body) to start the third, Brandon Montour extended Florida’s lead to 4-0 after firing a one-timer past a screened Swayman on another power play opportunity.

In the absence of their captain, the Bruins showed some life after Montour’s goal as Jakub Lauko and Jake DeBrusk delivered top-notch goals. But Sergei Bobrovsky rebounded to make several timely saves on Boston’s second power play of the night.

Sam Reinhart scored an empty-netter and Rodrigues added another power-play goal in the final seconds to secure Florida’s 6-2 victory.

Here’s what we learned as the Bruins face a 2-1 series deficit heading into a must-win Game 4.

The Bruins are trying to fill Marchand’s void through committee.

As if things weren’t bad enough already, the Bruins returned to the ice for the third period without their captain.

With a 3-0 deficit intact, Boston announced Marchand’s upper body injury as he hit the ice for the final 20 minutes. Head coach Jim Montgomery did not reveal the extent of Marchand’s potential status during his postgame press conference.

Marchand collided with a returning Sam Bennett near the Boston bench during the first period. The veteran winger didn’t miss a shift until heading to the locker room for the second intermission.

Without Marchand, the Bruins rotated their forward personnel in the final quarter. Not only did they miss Marchand’s competitive spirit on the ice, but they also had to make up for his lack of leadership both on the bench and in the locker room.

David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and the rest of the Bruins attempted to replace Marchand’s influence with a committee. They showed some resilience in the third to cut their 4-0 deficit in half. But their comeback attempt came to nothing after Friday’s slow start.

“You know, I thought we rallied because of our captain,” Montgomery said. “I thought Pasta and Charlie McAvoy did a great job without him being on the bench. And I thought our players all improved and we started to compete like Brad Marchand would.

The Bruins were slow to find their offensive rhythm.

After a rocky first game, Boston picked up where they left off in game two thanks to Charlie Coyle’s tally in the first half. But he struggled to maintain this offensive production after scoring his sixth goal of the series.

The Bruins left Swayman out to dry defensively on several occasions. Offensively, they struggled to possess pucks on numerous shifts on the offensive end against Florida’s tight defensive structure.

Over the next 80 minutes, the Bruins allowed the next 10 goals. As if that wasn’t enough, they took 17 shots on goal during that stretch.

Unlike Game 2, the Bruins stayed within striking distance on Friday. They had started to build their game at the end of the second half, before Lohrei’s penalty, and finally found their rhythm in the third. They showed desperation to get within two and almost managed to get within one after DeBrusk hit the crossbar late in regulation.

“We had nothing to lose at that point, and we just kept going,” Lauko said. “So we have to be desperate like this for a whole 60 minutes.”

The Bruins may have something to build on after showing some fighting spirit in the last 20. But with or without their captain, they will need to show immediate urgency and improvement across the board as they face their first series deficit of the Montgomery regime.

Boston’s reliable penalty killing system has fallen into a rut.

The Bruins weren’t given the benefit of the doubt on a few calls against them, most notably with a head-scratching interference infraction assigned to Lauko early in the third. Conversely, they didn’t do enough to earn a few whistles in their favor.

The Bruins had penalty problems for the second straight game. As a result, Boston’s upper-echelon penalty kill units became vulnerable against a powerful power play unit.

The Panthers forced their way to the front of the net to create quality offensive looks with the man advantage – and 5-on-5 – while clogging shooting lanes at the other end of the ice. Their power play efforts illustrated this development after a 4-for-6 outing Friday night.

“I definitely need to be better in net, especially myself,” said defenseman Brandon Carlo. “There were some problems there. They created a time zone when we didn’t get our permits. We want to get the puck down 200 feet when possible, but we’ll watch the video and try to learn from it.