Takeaways: Bruins encounter a forgettable opening night in Florida

Adding a top-six center (Elias Lindholm) and a quality rugged defenseman (Nikita Zadorov)? Check.

Becoming a heavier team in the off-season after years of being pushed around during the playoffs? Check.

A new contract for Jeremy Swayman? Check.

But as opening night proved, the 2023-24 Boston Bruins have a long way to go before they consider themselves legit challengers to dethrone the Florida Panthers.

Like the previous two playoff matchups, the Panthers overwhelmed a sluggish Bruins squad from the get-go.

“Their execution was really good, and our execution was really poor,” head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters. “I can’t pinpoint why we looked slow, but we looked slow the entire game and not just the first 10 minutes, in my opinion.”

Between juicy rebounds, penalty trouble and scoring woes, the Bruins hardly had a banner night against the defending Stanley Cup champs. Here are a few observations from Boston’s sloppy 6-4 opening night setback.

The Bruins once again took Florida’s bait.

Under Paul Maurice, the Panthers thrived off getting under opponents’ skin. After watching the likes of Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk embrace and thrive in their villainous role throughout The Hub, the Bruins attempted to beef up their roster to try and counter Florida’s scrappiness.

With their added snarl, the Bruins tried to use the season opener as a barometer. Instead, the Panthers again baited them into penalty trouble, beginning with Tkachuk goading Frederic into an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty just as the two appeared intent to drop the gloves until the Florida winger apparently had second thoughts.

“I didn’t know people did that,” Frederic said after thinking Tkachuk had challenged him to a bout before reportedly backing off. “I think that’s a little disrespectful to the game. That’s my thoughts.”

The Bruins took exception to many of Florida’s antics. Yet, similarly to last year’s second-round series, they hardly deserved any benefit of the doubt after entering chase mode.

Between Frederic’s exchange with Tkachuk and newcomer Max Jones inadvertently slashing an official while tied up with Evan Rodrigues, the Bruins unraveled against their Atlantic Division rivals. Somehow, Boston’s PK withstood another night of penalty trouble after killing off all six of Florida’s power play attempts.

The Bruins showcased some pushback, engaging with Bennett after he ran into Jonas Korpisalo while adding a couple of late goals in garbage time from Frederic and David Pastrnak. But, the mental hurdle against the Panthers remains.

Boston’s D left a struggling Korpisalo out to dry.

Montgomery may have had second thoughts about slotting a rusty Swayman for the opening night start. Realistically, though, the third-year Bruins bench boss had little choice.

Despite mixed results during the preseason, Korpisalo worked hard during camp and ultimately beat out Brandon Bussi for the opening night nod and to eventually serve as a backup to Swayman. But after his first start, Korpisalo justified any reservations Bruins fans had following the Swede’s arrival from Ottawa as part of the Linus Ullmark trade.

Coming off the worst season of his career during his lone season with the Sens, Korpisalo encountered a rough debut in black and gold.

Granted, Korpisalo received little support from Boston’s D against Florida’s aggressive forecheck. Yet, the veteran struggled to track shots cleanly, allowing multiple dangerous rebounds around the front of the net.

Bennett collected a pair of rebounds to bookend Florida’s four-goal opening frame. Eetu Lustorainen also buried a shot following an initial Korpisalo stop.

The true dagger came just a minute before Bennett’s second tally at 18:34 of the first. The Bruins had cut the deficit to 2-1 on Pavel Zacha’s shorthanded snipe and seemed to have found a rhythm during their first power play attempt. But Sam Reinhart pounced on a turnover and flat-out left Charlie McAvoy out to dust before firing a wrister over Korpisalo’s shoulder to give the Panthers a 3-1 cushion.

“A couple of weird bounces,” Korpisalo told the media. “But four goals in one period, it doesn’t matter how many shots you got there. It’s pretty tough to climb back there.”

With Swayman looking on, Korpisalo remained in the Boston net. He saw 18 Florida shots over the next 40 after facing 17 during the first 20. The heavy traffic, however, continued, with Bennett’s collision with Korpisalo completing a rather forgettable season opener.

The middle six is a work in progress.

After a patchwork centennial campaign, Don Sweeney addressed Boston’s center and defensive needs at the top of the lineup. But their middle-six wing depth took a hit after Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen departed for Vancouver.

The Bruins that Fabian Lysell or Georgii Merkulov, two of their top prospects, would seize the opportunity to fill one of the middle-six vacancies. Yet, both encountered inconsistent camps and made their way back to Providence.

Matthew Poitras showcased strides as a potential middle-six option. However, the 20-year-old forward, who dabbled between wing and center, encountered a setback after sustaining an injury late in camp.

With that, Boston’s middle six remains in flux.

Morgan Geekie played well in spot duty whenever the Bruins encountered injury problems last season. He’s in a familiar spot to begin his second season in Boston, skating alongside Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand. In the long run, he’s best served as a versatile third-line option.

Ideally, the Bruins would’ve had one of Jones or Justin Brazeau, who assisted on Frederic’s third-period tally, on the fourth line. For now, they find themselves next to Frederic, hoping to establish a heavy third-line presence.

Aside from that Frederic marker, the middle-six hardly established many quality scoring bids. Boston’s second and third lines only mustered three shots on net and ten shot attempts during 5v5 play.

With a potentially intriguing top trio of Zacha, Lindholm and Pastrnak, the Bruins need all the secondary scoring they can get. Given their current in-house options, Sweeney may need to look for external candidates to fill those wing voids on Boston’s middle-six.