Bruins take Game 1 on road, defeat Panthers 5-1

SUNRISE — Just two days off their Game 7 overtime win, the Boston Bruins opened up the second round with a 5-1 road victory over the Florida Panthers, Monday night in South Florida. 

Boston takes a 1-0 series lead against Florida lead for the second consecutive postseason.

The first goal of the game didn’t come until 11:45 into the second period, where Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk broke the ice with his fourth goal of the postseason, giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead.

After nearly 32 minutes of stellar goaltending to start the game, the floodgates would open up after Tkachuk got the ball rolling

Just 67 seconds after Florida took the lead, Boston’s Morgan Geekie answered the bell, tying the game at 1-1 with his third goal of the playoffs. 

Mason Lohrei would give Boston their first lead of the night with 3:43 left in the period, burying his first career playoff goal past Sergei Bobrovsky.

With 21 seconds left in the second, Brandon Carlo scored from the point — giving the Bruins a two-goal lead.

After three unanswered goals in the final seven minutes of the period, the Bruins went into the third up 3-1.

In the third, Justin Brazeau added a fourth Bruins goal — putting them up 4-1, 7:13 into the third. 

The Bruins would add one more on the empty net to end their goal total at five.

Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman had 38 saves in the win.

Boston has won Game 1 in their last two playoff series — the most recent being this year over Toronto.

This was Florida’s first home playoff loss since Game 4 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final to Vegas.