The Boston Bruins, who set records for wins and points in the standings, finished the NHL regular season with a lot of confidence. But despite winning 3-1, the Bruins acknowledged they had first-night playoff jitters during Game 1 of their series against the Florida.
Panthers on Monday night "Definitely. Everyone was uneasy, I believe. I felt anxious. Many guys were, I'm sure of it. The winger Brad Marchand, who scored a goal in the victory, said.
This is what we've been working toward all year. "It makes sense that guys would feel that way. But there's also anxiety and excitement. We have the opportunity to build on our efforts from the past year and show faith in the procedure.
Although the team's first six minutes against Florida were well received, "the intensity of the playoffs surprised us a little bit" after that, according to coach Jim Montgomery.
We may have been a little on edge, he said. At 5:58 in the first period, David Pastrnak scored on the power play to give Boston a 1-0 lead.
Up until Marchand's 2-0 goal at 3:41 of the second period, it remained that way. But just under three minutes later, Florida's Matthew Tkachuk scored to cut the deficit to 2-1. They make a strong team. We anticipated that they would push hard, and they did.
We kind of strayed from our game in the second period when we started losing too many pucks in the neutral zone and at the top of the circles, according to Marchand.