The Florida Panthers face the Boston Bruins in Game Five of the First Round. The Panthers won Game Two but lost back-to-back games at home and one more loss will eliminate them from the playoffs. The Bruins hold a 3-1 series lead and look to clinch the series and advance to the next round. The Panthers look to keep their season alive and pull off the upset while the Bruins hope to win the series on their home ice and the upcoming game should be a good one.
The Panthers have fallen apart in this series and hope their offense can step up, scoring only 11 goals in the series. Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett have combined for four goals and four assists but the rest of the forward unit has struggled. The hope is that Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verheaghe can step up in Game Five as they combined for 65 goals and 86 assists this season but only have a goal and three assists in this series.
The offense has struggled but the defense has collapsed in this series, allowing 16 goals including 10 goals in the last two games. Brandon Montour, Gustav Forsling, and Aaron Ekblad have led the top two pairings but the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to find open shots on the net at will. Additionally, goaltender Alex Lyon has struggled, allowing nine goals on 92 shots.