SUNRISE, FL – Here are five thoughts from the first period with the Bruins and Florida Panthers locked in a scoreless tie after the first 20 minutes of action at the BB&T Center.
1) Some good chances for the Bruins outshooting the Panthers by a 12-7 margin in the first period, but most of that was in the first 10 minutes of the game. They also didn’t finish any of those offensive chances, including a full PP possession where they kept the puck in the offensive zone, and now they’ve allowed Roberto Luongo to see plenty of pucks in a scoreless game.
2) A borderline hit for Brett Connolly on Erik Gudbranson in the corner with the Florida defenseman’s head slamming into the dasher, and Brad Boyes going after Connolly as a result. The hit got Connolly a double-minor, and is his second questionable event in two games after throwing what appeared something approaching a slewfoot on Joel Ward on Wednesday night in Washington. I’ll give Connolly credit: he’s one of the few Bruins actually playing with some snarl right now.
3) Five of the 19 shot attempts from Lucic-Spooner-Pastrnak in the first period as they were playing with some good energy.
4) Some good nastiness at the end of the first as Jonathan Huberdeau and Zdeno Chara get engaged in an extended shoving match back and forth with Chara’s helmet finally popping off. Both were off for matching penalties, but maybe that will wake up the sleeping beast.
5) Carl Soderberg looks like he’s playing shinny in a must win game for the Bruins tonight. Has he already booked his plane tickets back to Sweden?