What we learned: Lucic showing great leadership

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Here’s What We Learned from the B’s 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers at TD Garden that effectively ended Florida’s postseason hopes on Tuesday night. 

1) Milan Lucic is showing some great leadership shepherding the kids’ forward line, and helping Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak effectively navigate potentially tough waters in these high intensity games. Lucic brings the physicality and looming presence that helps protect the two small, skill players, and also wins enough battles for all three players when he’s properly energized and motivated. He’s been that as of late, and that’s allowed Spooner and Pastrnak to really pull plenty out of him offensively over the last month as well while forcing him to move his skating legs. Lucic has also been patient with his role on that young line, which means he’s rarely out on the ice in the third period protecting a lead like he’s routinely been in the past. That might be a tough thing to swallow for an established player like him, but he’s trying to turn that into a positive. The Bruins are a different team when Lucic is playing like skilled warrior, and he was exactly that while aggressively attacking the Florida defense for the game-winner from high slot against the Panthers. The defensively challenged trio won’t be on the ice when the Bruins are trying to hold a lead in the final 20 minutes, and that’s understandable given how important these games are right now. But there should never be a time when that trio isn’t on the ice if the Bruins are trailing or tied in a game, and need the offense that’s been consistently provided by the two young guys.

“Everything seems to be clicking right now. We’re supporting each other well, we’re coming up the ice together well, we’re finding each other, and we’re also getting some puck luck as well. I think that’s also a big part of it, but you know, when you’re working the right way and putting the work in, you tend to get luck on your side. We’ve just got to keep it going, and try not to get things too high…try to stay even keeled and keep contributing to this team’s success. I’ve never really been in this position where you’re the oldest guy and, you know, have a lot more games [of experience] than both of them put together. I’m just trying to enjoy it and trying to have fun with it – you see they’re having a lot of fun, just trying to have that, I guess, youthful fun like I had when I was their age. It’s become contagious between the three of us. You just want to – as an athlete and as a competitor – you just want to be able to contribute in any way that you can, and it’s nice to get some results.”

 

2) Something about Boston, and the TD Garden, just doesn’t agree with Roberto Luongo. He’s 0-5-1 in his last six games at TD Garden including the 2011 Stanley Cup Final games and had a 5.14 goals-against average in those games headed into Tuesday night. Then he went out and crumbled in the third period giving up two iffy goals, with the final one to Milan Lucic an unforgivable five hole score with just 1:09 to go in the game. If Luongo could have protected the 2-2 tie and got the Panthers into OT, they might have some small shred of playoff hopes still flickering. But Bobby Lou was once again humbled in Boston, and that’s a wrap on the season for the Panthers.

 

3) Matt Bartkowski is a great kid, but he’s really having a hard time right now playing any kind of a role for the Bruins in these important games. He struggled in the first period with a couple of very shaky turnovers, and then really spit the bit in the second period when he whiffed on a puck at the offensive blue line that turned into a Brad Boyes breakaway chance. It was also eventually a soft goal allowed by Tuukka Rask as well, but the whole thing was created because Bartkowski couldn’t contain a clear face-off win for Ryan Spooner in the offensive zone. Those kinds of dumpster fire plays just can’t happen in the final five games, or during the potential playoff run for the Black and Gold. The Bruins don’t have any other choices at this point, but one has to wonder if they stick with Bartkowski once the playoffs begin. He’d be a decent seventh D-man on a good team, but Bartkowski simply isn’t the guy for a team like the B’s looking for steady play among their D-men to go along with the player’s natural skating ability.

 

Plus

* A big game-winning goal for Milan Lucic with 1:09 to go in the third period where he attacked the Florida defense, and fired a wrist shot through the five hole for Roberto Luongo to effectively squash their playoff hopes. That was the first signs of killer instinct from this Bruins team this season, and that’s important.

* Ryan Spooner finished with the game-tying goal after the NHL officials switched it over on Wednesday when they decided that David Pastrnak never touched the puck. Spooner finished with two points, and was another spark plug in the final 20 minutes right along with Lucic.

*The Patrice Bergeron/Brad Marchand/David Krejci line held both Jaromir Jagr and Jonathan Huberdeau without a shot. That is just ironclad defense.

 

Minus

*Matt Bartkowski had a tough night. No need to keep beating the dead horse. 

* Roberto Luongo can’t give up a five-hole goal with 1:09 to go in the third period on a shot from the high slot in Florida’s most important game of the season. Well, of course he can do it. It just means the Panthers aren’t making the playoffs.

* No shots on net from Chris Kelly, no points in the last five games and no goals in the entire month of March. It's been a bit of a slowdown for the two-way player.

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