Review: The Bruins start slow and never recover from a 6-4 loss to the Panthers in the season opener

After a summer of major free agent signings and dramatic contract negotiations, Bruins fans eagerly awaited opening night and the start of a new season.

Maybe we could have waited a little longer.

The night the Florida Panthers raised their Stanley Cup Champions banner, the Bruins looked slow, out of sync and overall completely disorganized in a 6-4 loss.

To be fair, a two-goal lead at the final whistle flattered the Bruins, who were second best by a wide margin from the opening game.

The Panthers scored goals from five different outfield players, including two from Sam Bennett, who also fed Joonas Korpisalo in the third period.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

After struggling to get going for most of the first period, the Bruins found themselves down 2-0 less than eight minutes into the game.

A shorthanded goal from Pavel Zacha with just under five minutes left in the first period made it 2-1, but the B's conceded two goals (one of them shorthanded) in the last two minutes of the first period, which put them offside.

Korpisalo allowed six goals on 35 shots in his Bruins debut, and while he certainly wasn't outstanding, this wasn't the kind of loss you can call goaltending.

In addition to Zacha's goal, the Bruins also got goals from Charlie McAvoy, Trent Frederic and David Pastrnak (PPG).

Game highlights

I'm not sure why you would want to undergo this punishment, but here we go:

(We'll probably resort to Twitter/X embeds for most games this season, but the juice didn't seem worth the pressure for this debacle.)

Game notes

• Where should I start? In many ways, this game reminded me of the worst parts of last season's playoff series: a billion-to-one outshot early in the game, undisciplined play, issues with the forecheck and rush defense… you name it , that was it bad (apart from the penalty shootout, I guess, which went 6-on-6 and added a shorthanded goal).
• As bad as the Bruins played in the first half, they were still in the game and had a chance to tie the game at 2-2 with a late power play. Instead, they allowed Sam Reinhart a short-handed goal, with McAvoy not necessarily putting everything on the line defensively in front of the goal (one might expect more from Korpisalo, although Reinhart deserves credit for the quality of the shot).
• There's still plenty of time to settle in, but the big summer signings didn't exactly send the world into a frenzy on their debuts: Elias Lindholm lost two-thirds of his face-offs and Nikita Zadorov conceded two minor penalties. However, Lindholm had an assist for Zacha's goal.
• Max Jones received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for knocking down the linesman during an altercation with Evan Rodrigues. This is a good overview of recent interactions between the Bruins and Panthers.
• It wasn't a good night for Mason Lohrei and Brandon Carlo, as they both allowed a lot of chances (and goals). We're talking about everything that's off the charts, so… the only place to go is up!
• Some shenanigans ensued after Bennett accidentally led Korpisalo, including by confusing Frederic with Matthew Tkachuk, who showed no interest in fighting. You can't necessarily blame Tkachuk for not being ready to fight when faced with a four-goal lead – but it's also not surprising to learn that he reportedly went about it in Matthew Tkachuk's style.
• These two teams will soon renew their acquaintances, with the Bruins hosting Florida on Monday.
• In true “Burn the Tape” fashion, Ty Anderson reports that the Bruins will not practice on Wednesday before Thursday’s home opener against Montreal.

If you're looking for some perspective, we may have been a little spoiled lately:

2018-2019 season? Another entry into the cup final, confirmed.

Until Thursday!