The Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers still hate each other.
After a physical but mostly normal Game 1 of this Eastern Conference second round series, the intensity went up several levels in Wednesday night's Game 2 at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers increased their lead to 4-1 just 88 seconds into the third period, and that's when the chaos ensued.
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Pat Maroon and Nick Cousins were both tossed after receiving 10-minute misconducts with 9:35 left in the game.
There was a mini line brawl about 35 seconds later as multiple players got tangled up in the Panthers zone.
Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour made the score 6-1 with 8:02 remaining in the period and stared at Brad Marchand in the aftermath. The two of them had an altercation and Marchand also was tossed from the game.
The craziest scene happened later in the period when Matthew Tkachuk and David Pastrnak had an actual fight near center ice. Pastrnak shouldn't be fighting anyone given his importance to the Bruins. They can't take the risk that he'll suffer an injury as a result. But he does deserve some credit for sticking up for himself.
"I'm not afraid of him, to be honest," Pastrnak said postgame when asked about the fight, via the NESN broadcast. "I can take a punch, and I'd do anything for these guys here."
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery appreciated Pastrnak's toughness.
“What I’m really proud of -- I'm proud of Pasta. There are so many guys out there pushing after the whistles when the linesmen are there," Montgomery said postgame, as seen in the video above. "Tkachuk and Pasta, they just went out there and fought. That’s what you like. You like your hockey players to be competitors.”
The Panthers eventually finished off a 6-1 victory to even the series. These two teams combined to tally 148 penalty minutes, and 136 of them came in the third period alone.
After what happened in last season's first-round series, it's not the least bit surprising that it took only five periods for this year's series to go off the rails.
These are two very physical teams that don't like each other one bit. It's hard to imagine the intensity decreasing much at all when the series shifts to Boston for Game 3 at TD Garden on Friday night.
