The Boston Bruins never had a stranglehold in Game 5 like they had during Games 3 & 4 of their first-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers, but for much of the night, it was clear they were the team playing better hockey. Yet when the final buzzer sounded, it was the Panthers that managed to come out on top, extending their season and forcing both teams to head back to Florida for Game 6 now.
After the Boston Celtics blew a 13-point fourth quarter lead in their Game 5 action against the Atlanta Hawks, the Bruins followed up with their own disappointing outing on Wednesday night. They dominated the play throughout this one, firing 47 shots on goal compared to the Panthers 25, but they continued to make unforced mistakes, and weren't nearly opportunistic enough to win this game.
Now, rather than having some time to rest up ahead of the second-round, the Bruins will be forced to continue to battle to find their way into the next round. Game 6 is going to be huge for both sides, but first, let's take a look back at Game 5 and pick out three big takeaways that popped up from this disappointing contest.
3. Bruins cannot continue to be careless with the puck
For much of the night, this game felt eerily similar to Game 2 of this series, where the B's managed to stay level with the Panthers through two periods before their mistakes eventually caught up to them in the third period. Once again, Boston fell behind early, and while they battled back to control the action, they never could grab a lead over Florida thanks to several mistakes.
Once again, turnovers were a huge issue for Boston, and they pretty much ensured they would lose this game. The B's coughed up the puck a whooping 17 times, with two such giveaways leading directly to goals for Florida. Tyler Bertuzzi basically handed the puck to Carter Verhaeghe, which set up the opening goal, and Linus Ullmark made easily his worst play of the season in overtime, but we will get to that in a minute.
When Boston takes care of the puck and doesn't make unforced errors, the Panthers are really struggling to score goals. Boston has proven in their wins that they are capable of weathering the storm against Florida's intense forecheck and limiting their opportunities, and in order to put this series to rest, they are going to have to play a much cleaner game in Game 6.
2. Bruins must replace Jakub Lauko with Trent Frederic in Game 6
The return of Patrice Bergeron ensured that someone would be dropped from the lineup in Game 5, and the odd man out ended up being Trent Frederic. Frederic has been OK in this series, but his physicality has certainly helped the B's, and he has familiarity working on the third line alongside Charlie Coyle. However, after Game 5, it's clear that Jakub Lauko needs to be dropped instead of Frederic.
Lauko was awful in Game 5 for a couple of different reasons. For starters, he squandered Boston's first big chance of the game in the first period by passing up a one-on-one shot against Sergei Bobrovsky to dish the puck over to Tomas Nosek, who had a way worse angle at a shot then Lauko did. Lauko also committed the Bruins only two penalties of the game, with the second one leading to Florida's third goal of the night just 40 seconds after the Bruins tied the game up at two apiece.
Even if Lauko's second “hooking” penalty was extremely questionable, it's clear he's not ready to be helping the Bruins at this stage of the season. Frederic is a physical guy who can get to the net and find a way to poke pucks home. On a night where the B's struggled to put guys in front of Bobrovsky, Frederic would clearly have helped out a lot, and he should find his way back into the lineup over Lauko in Game 6.
1. Bruins must start Jeremy Swayman over Linus Ullmark in Game 6
Easily the worst performance of the night for Boston, though, came from their star goalie Linus Ullmark. After a sterling 41-save outing in Game 4, and a near fight with Matthew Tkachuk, Ullmark seemed to be settling into the postseason quite well. Unfortunately, in Game 5, Ullmark only saved 21 of the 25 shots he faced, and head coach Jim Montgomery has a big decision on who to put between the pipes in Game 6.
In fairness to Ullmark, he was hung out to dry on a pair of the Bruins goals, but one of the mistakes was a self-inflicted error when he got too cute with the puck and just handed it over to Verhaeghe while trying to clear it from behind his own net. On the other two goals, Ullmark was beat glove-side on a pair of shots he should have saved. Sam Bennett's goal may have taken a deflection along the way, but it wasn't enough to reasonably deter Ullmark from saving it.
This is where things get tricky. Ullmark has been the best goalie in the NHL all throughout the season, but his ridiculous gaffe in overtime just cost the Bruins a chance to book their spot in the second-round. Do you stick with him, or give Jeremy Swayman a shot in Ullmark's place? If there's a time to start Swayman, it feels like Game 6 is that time, and it wouldn't be surprising to see Ullmark hit the bench after this catastrophic performance.
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