How the Bruins will, won't win Game 5 vs. the Panthers on Tuesday night
Going into Game 5, Boston is staring down a 3-1 deficit to Florida. Here's how they can and can't win on Tuesday night.
How the Bruins live to see another day and make it to Game 6
If the Bruins want to live to see another day, and play Game 6 in Boston, they're going to need to play a much different brand of hockey than they have in the last few games. Not only, have they been outscored 15-5 since defeating the Panthers 5-1 in Game 1, but they have been outshot by the Panthers 107-58 in that stretch and that is where it starts.
In order for Boston to win, it has to be more aggressive with its shots. I mean, come on! That's an average of just under 17 shots on goal per game and that just does not bode well for your offense. Some teams (Florida included), can average that much in one period, to a period-and-a-half alone.
If the Bruins really have a desire to win, it would do them some good to put some shots on Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky who has not seen much action this series, and when he has seen action, has looked shaky at best.
Another way for them to win and not, as Paul McCartney eloquently put it "live and let die", they need to stay disciplined and not let their emotions get the best of them.
Yes, some players will be wearing their emotions on their sleeve after Sam Bennett's both sucker-punching of Brad Marchand and non-cross checking/goaltender interference call when he barrelled Charlie Coyle into his own netminder and "magically" found a blue paint-crossing pass.
Bennett and fellow forward Matthew Tkachuk will likely public enemies no. 1 and 2, respectively, in Game 5, but it's important for the teams to shoulder and hip-check hunting, not head hunting if they are to survive Tuesday night's game.
How the Bruins fall in Game 5 and their season ends on Tuesday night
How does Boston lose on Tuesday night, and have Florida just walk out with the series win on Tuesday? The first way is that the Bruins let the Panthers play their game without ANY disruptions. Even small disruptions give the visitors a chance.
Florida has overmatched Boston in almost every way throughout the series when they've been on, but when the Bruins have either been on their game or the Panthers have faltered a bit (which was really just Games 1 and 3), it has been a much more favorable outcome for Boston - even if it does mean losing to Florida, in Game 3's case.
If the Panthers stick to their rhythm of scoring on the power play, waltzing like a ballerina into the offensive zone, and skipping through the neutral zone like a flat stone on water, there is no way the Bruins can win this game.
Another way they lose this game is through the power of penalties, and I'm not saying because the referees are bad. Yes, Boston has gotten the short of the stick - hockey pun intended - in terms of whistles thus far, but that's not to say that their discipline has been any better.
If they lose this game, other than the reasons listed above, it will be because the Bruins could not stay disciplined and played for skates and went for someone's head, instead of attempting to play the puck and knock someone over in a clean way.
It's feels like Game 7 going into Tuesday night, even though it's not - puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN.