SUNRISE, FL – Here are five thoughts from the second period with the Bruins and Florida Panthers locked in a 1-1 tie after the first 40 minutes of action at the BB&T Center.
1) Five minor penalties for Brett Connolly in the last two games, including a high-sticking call in the second period that led to the Florida power play goal. He also had 38 PIMs in 50 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning before coming to Boston. I like the level of intensity he’s playing with, but that’s a lot of penalties.
2) Patrice Bergeron was the guy, of course, that scored the power play goal in the second period for the Bruins. He buried a backhanded shot on the rebound of a Torey Krug point shot to initially give the B’s the lead, and now leads the Bruins in goals (23), assists (32) and points(55) this season. You get the feeling if the Bruins make the playoffs, it’s only going to arrive via him directly.
3) Adam McQuaid gets into a tangle with Jonathan Huberdeau around the Boston net in what’s been a very active game for the Florida forward. So then Alex Petrovic jumps in on the skirmish between the two players and drops the gloves with McQuaid while wearing a visor. Shouldn’t Petrovic get an instigator penalty there for jumping in as the third guy, and especially doing it while wearing a visor. Are we just not calling that penalty at all anymore? McQuaid went back to the B’s dressing room following the fight.
4) Great play by Jaromir Jagr taking a hit from Zdeno Chara to make the pass that freed Aleksander Barkov, and allowed the Finnish forward to beat Tuukka Rask with a five-hole goal that he wasn’t too happy about. Chris Kelly didn’t make a great coverage PK play in the D-zone, but it was a great play by Jagr that set up the whole thing.
5) For a game that is supposed to be Boston’s “most important game of the season”, the Bruins haven’t shown the kind of execution or intensity you would expect in a game of that magnitude. A couple of times in recent weeks I’ve asked Claude Julien if he has the confidence that his team will get the job done, and he’s basically said “the games will determine that” while never voicing his unwavering faith they’d accomplish the goal. It certainly makes you wonder what’s going on in that dressing room. There are guys like Patrice Bergeron, Adam McQuaid and others that are clearly giving everything they’ve got, but it looks to me like they’ve still got passengers in this huge game.