In the second period, the visitors, who scored the opening goal, got out of hand. Two seconds before the end of the game, the home team’s Gustav Forsling made it 3:1, and Boston had no weapons to turn it around. The Bruins, on the other hand, were a bit nervous. Captain Brad Marchand couldn’t bear it when Brandon Montour celebrated the Panthers’ sixth hit and a mass brawl broke out, in which Pastrňák and Sam Reinhart also got involved.
The referee awarded penalties, but Pasta arranged a fight with Tkachuk in the meantime. Cameras captured the moment Jim Montgomery spoke to Pastrnak over the line, the Boston coach later denied giving the team’s star permission to fight. But he didn’t get angry.
“I am really proud of Pastrňák. He just went out there and fought. You’re happy if your players can compete like that,” Montgomery said.
Clip of the match Florida – BostonVideo: nhl.com
Pastrnak went into the battle fearlessly, but Tkachuk has much more experience in them, which was clearly visible. But the Panthers striker could forgive himself the blow when his opponent was no longer standing. “I don’t think that belongs in hockey,” Montgomery was annoyed. The Boston forward went after the Florida provocateur even when Tkachuk was being held by the referees again.
“I wish I could have done a little better, but I haven’t been in a lot of fights,” said Pastrňák, who has only one fistfight recorded by HockeyFights, a March 2018 fight against Tampa’s Dan Girardi.
“But to be honest, I’m not afraid of him. I can take a hit. He asked me if I was going, so I agreed. It was actually already over the match,” Pastrňák waved his hand, who, like Tkachuk, scored 5+10.
Florida coach Paul Maurice took the fight positively. “I mean, it was amazing,” he said after a game in which his players sniffed the confidence of Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who was substituted after the fourth goal. “We didn’t have the juice today,” Montgomery admitted.
There’s been a lot of bad blood between the rivals since last year’s opening-round series, in which Boston was eliminated in seven games as a heavy favorite. At 1-1, the playoffs now move back to TD Garden, where the third game will be played on Saturday night.
“We have to put this behind us. We stole one game from them here, now we need to focus on the next one,” said Pastrňák.
2024-05-09 07:05:43
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