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The Bruins can’t hit the snooze button for a matinee with the Panthers
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The Bruins can’t hit the snooze button for a matinee with the Panthers

Don’t expect another Garden sleepover when the Bruins meet the Panthers on Monday afternoon. The game will be a repeat of a season-opening 6-4 loss at Florida, a result that left the Bruins feeling frustrated.

The Bruins (2-1-0) rebounded with a 6-4 victory over the Canadiens, only edging past the Kings, 2-1, in overtime on a late wake-up call goal from David Pastrnak.

“I think for us it’s all about execution and effort, and that wasn’t there,” coach Bruins Jim Montgomery said of Tuesday’s loss to the reigning champions. “We have to start playing hockey again. I love that we have emotions, you know. They are a rival. But at the same time we have to be disciplined. We take too many penalties.”

As for the caffeine-free matinee date with the Kings, Montgomery said, “I don’t know why. We usually enjoy playing in the afternoon. It’s early in the year, we’ve had two bad starts and one really good one. I think we were slow at first, just all over the place, right? And I think we were very slow with the submissions and I didn’t think our intensity was there in the face-offs.

Montgomery’s message to the Bruins is: wake up and smell the coffee. Just don’t drink too many cups.

“I think your emotions can easily get the upper hand sometimes,” says left winger Cole Koepke said after practice at the Warrior Ice Arena on Sunday. “Especially when the games are so intense and you come home and there’s so much history behind it. But I think you just have to try to do everything you can to maintain your mood and keep emotions in check. They’re going to happen, just make sure you’re going to use them in a way that won’t hurt the team.”

Koepke made his Bruins debut against the Panthers and had a three-point performance against the Canadiens.

“Since then we’ve been watching video and talking as a team,” Koepke said of the opener. “And I think we’ve gotten better in the last few games. And parts of our game are getting better every day.

“What we go back to is we try to play fast and play hard. And if we don’t get the puck the first time or we don’t get it done the first time, we just keep making that second attempt and try to wear the team down and just keep playing.”

The Bruins face the Panthers for the eighth time in their last eleven non-preseason games. Joel Auerbach/Getty

The Bruins showed a lot of fight against the Panthers the first time. But they were without Jeremy Swaymanwho missed training camp and ultimately agreed to an eight-year contract worth $66 million less than 48 hours before the puck dropped, causing him to leave Joonas Korpisalo to fend off the Panthers.

Swayman confirmed the Bruins’ investment against the Canadiens (20 saves) and the Kings (33).

On the scoresheet, but not on the ice

Matt Poitras was not technically on the ice when he picked up an assist in Pastrnak’s decider on Saturday. Poitras found Pastrnak in front of the Bruins’ bench and then stepped out as Pastrnak hit a give-and-go from Mason Lohrei at 3:03 overtime. Call it a walk-off, or skate-off, assist. No plus-minus credit for Poitras, however. That went to Charlie Coyle.

The Panthers (1-2-0) will be missing Aleksander Barkov (lower body). Matthew Tkachuk (illness) missed their 5-2 loss at Buffalo on Saturday, the second game of their four-game road trip, which started with a 3-1 loss in Ottawa. The trip ends Tuesday in Columbus.

The Bruins begin a three-game road trip with a matchup against the Avalanche on Wednesday. . . Montgomery on the Bruins’ power play: “I thought (against Montreal) our power play was excellent – ​​I thought we could have had three or four. But the last match was not up to standard.”


Frank Dell’Apa can be reached at [email protected].