A summer of certain lament and difficult explanations came crashing down on the Bruins at 9:50 p.m Sunday night at the Garden when the Florida Panthers, who finished 17th in the league standings this season, ended Boston’s record-setting season.
The Bruins, with more wins and points than any team in NHL regular-season history, were ushered out of the playoffs on Carter Verhaeghe’s goal with 8:35 gone in overtime.
Now faced with months, if not years, of listening to, “How’d you guys blow it?!”, the Bruins battled back from a 2-0 second-period deficit, but could not close the deal.
▪ Sixty seconds away from clinching it in regulation, the Bruins were forced into overtime when Brandon Montour’s quick snap shot was tipped home off the stick blade of Bruins backliner Charlie McAvoy.
Fronting his net with the Panthers’ goal empty, McAvoy watched Montour’s shot deflect straight up off his blade and beat goalie Jeremy Swayman to the short side.
▪ David Pastrnak’s 66th goal of the season, and fifth of the series, broke a 2-2 tie with 4:11 gone in the second — just over three minutes after Tyler Bertuzzi’s power-play strike erased Florida’s advantage.
Pastrnak finished off a fat, juicy rebound yielded by Sergei Bobrovsky, the Russian tender unable to snare Brandon Carlo’s initial shot off the rush from the right side.
Among the keys to a successful offense: shoot with a purpose. Carlo is not known for his offense, but he has excellent speed and a strong shot — when he uses it. He used it. With a purpose. Low and hard.
The shot ricocheted to Bobrovksy’s right and the charging Pastrnak made the quick deposit, before a sliding Brandon Montour could steer it away. The West End was shaking, the sweet spring thunder of Stanley Cup hockey.
▪ Earlier, the scrappy Bertuzzi, standing up to heavy checking from Radko Gudas, put the tip to Dmitry Orlov’s shot for his fifth goal of the playoffs.
Bertuzzi again displayed his knack for getting to and establishing inside ice — what has been a bugaboo for the Bruins in recent playoff seasons.
Getting to those tough spots is half the battle, and finishing is the tougher half. Bertuzzi has a knack for doing both.
It was the Bruins league-leading 11th power play goal of the playoffs. They came in tied at nine with Edmonton and Dallas.
▪ Swayman, without a start in over two weeks (since April 13) faced 11 shots in the first 20 minutes and looked sharp, other than when Brandon Montour snapped a doorstep backhander through his five-hole at 12:23.
Again, the Bruins were guilty of not eliminating the threat before it became a threat. Montour motored in unfettered from the left side, on a dish from Anton Lundell, and handed the Cats a 1-0 lead.
In the previous six games, the team to score first walked out with the W at the end of the night. There was an “ugh” factor attached to the Montour strike — his fourth of the series — and it was audible in the sellout crowd.
▪ Montgomery chose not to dress veteran forward Nick Foligno, opting instead for the quicker Trent Frederic. Understandable swap, speed in and weight out, but it left Montgomery without a bona fide heavy grinder for the night.
Krejci was set up for the go-ahead goal near the mid-point of the first period when Hampus Lindholm slid a flat-angle pass across from the left side with Krejci parked at the top of the crease. With no one around him, Krejci muffed a one-time shovel, the puck sliding out of harm’s way.
But the slick Czech center made up for it in the second when he hammered home a one-timer to cut the Panthers’ lead to 2-1.
Working in good pal Pastrnak’s office, just above the dot in the left wing circle, Krejci connected for his first of the postseason on a one-time blast off of Orlov’s feed.
▪ One of Montgomery’s directives was clear from the start: force-feed McAvoy with ice time. Big Mc logged two shifts right off the top, pairing first with Orlov before transitioning to a second pairing with old Boston University pal Matt Grzelcyk (in for the boo-boo prone Connor Clifton).
By the end of the first, McAvoy had logged a team-high 8:42 in ice time. His TOI through two periods was 17:20. By the end of the night, it looked like his final TOI might read like a finishing time in the Boston Marathon.
▪ The Panthers jumped to the 2-0 lead at 1:14 of the second, Sam Reinhart left unprotected in the slot and finishing with a sharp wrister to the top shelf on Swayman. Point-blank at shot range. Not much a goaltender can do with those.
The goal again was a product of slipshod work in the Boston defensive end. The Bruins had at least two prime chances to shake Florida pressure and get the puck out of the zone before Eetu Luostarinen fed over from the left side for Reinhart to put down the hammer.
Sloppy execution. Again. Not anything like the Bruins played for the bulk of their record-setting regular season.
“We have layers to what we do,” Montgomery upon returning home from the Game 6 loss in Sunrise. “So, one of our guys gets beat, we are not shutting down the next layer.”
▪ The Bruins trailed, 2-1, after the opening 40:00. It was the third consecutive game that they were on the short side at the second break. That never happened during the regular season. Bad time to break form.
▪ The decision to go with Swayman was the right one. He was sharper and quicker on the job than Linus Ullmark, who seemed to grow tired in games 5 and 6.
Swayman, 24, also had the benefit of a better effort in front of him. Through 40 minutes, the Cats only had 16 shots on net, and they only placed four on Swayman in the second after they moved out to the 2-0 lead.
On Saturday, Montgomery was asked if he regretted not going to Swayman earlier in the series.
“No, no regrets,” said Montgomery, as if delivering a line from a Neil Simon Broadway play. “Nothing good happens if you live with regret. If you make a mistake, you admit it and move on — that’s how you move on from regret.”
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.
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