A common problem plagues Boston with a lopsided loss to the Panthers

The Boston Bruins have started their 2024-25 season on Tuesday night with a 6-4 loss to the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

The score itself makes the game seem closer than it was. In reality, the Panthers looked like the same team that had dashed the Bruins' playoff hopes the previous two seasons. Florida came out and literally punched Boston in the mouth – physically and mentally.

“Their execution was really good, our execution was really bad,” Jim Montgomery told reporters. “I can't say exactly why we looked so slow, but I think we looked slow throughout the game, not just the first ten minutes.”

Before the eight-minute mark of the first frame, the Bruins trailed 2-0 and the Panthers had a 10-1 lead. However, Montgomery did not blame starting goalkeeper Joonas Korpisalo.

“Korpisalo wasn’t the problem tonight, it was the people in front of him,” Montgomery said. “You can’t give up four backdoor tip-ins and expect your goalie to make save after save. He parried many breakaways. He was good tonight. The players in front of him, the rest of the team and the coaching staff, we weren’t good enough.”

The Bruins brought in defenseman Nikita Zadorov and center Elias Lindholm in the offseason with high expectations that the duo would help Boston compete against Florida and other contenders. However, the entire team failed to achieve their goal of starting the season with a win. Zadorov said that the roster's offseason shakeup was partly the reason for the loss.

“We didn’t play well,” Zadorov told reporters. per video provided by the team. “… I don’t think we made a play about the puck in the first period. We lost every battle on the walls, in our zone, on the net front, everything. So that was the result of the first period.”

Zadorov added: “It’s the first game. There are many new faces. Of course there were emotions, history and the past against this team, so I feel like the concentration dropped a little today. But it's Game 1 of 82 games; we will get used to each other. We’ll be fine.”

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Here are more notes from Tuesday's Bruins-Panthers game:

– Trent Frederic was one of the Bruins who caught the eye in Sunrise, Florida. The forward scored his first goal of the season in the third period to bring the Bruins within three points. He also went head-to-head with Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk a few times during the game. Tkachuk even lured Frederic into committing an unsportsmanlike conduct violation in the first frame. Frederic took issue with Tkachuks' disrespect for the game.

– The Bruins scored two special teams goals in the loss. The first came when Pavel Zacha, outnumbered with Zadorov in the penalty area, lit the lamp for checking Tkachuk in the first third. It was his sixth shorthanded goal of his career – his first in a Bruins uniform. David Pastrnak scored the first power play goal of the season with less than three minutes left in regulation time. Boston held Florida scoreless on six power play opportunities, but gave up a shorthanded goal to Sam Reinhart a minute after Zacha scored for Boston.

– Boston lost its season opener for the first time in five seasons. The last time the Bruins dropped an opening night contest was against the Washington Capitals at the start of the 2018-19 season. Ironically, the Capitals, like the Panthers, raised their 2017 championship banner that night.

– The Bruins return to action on Thursday night with an Original Six matchup against the Montreal Canadiens. TD Garden puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET. You can watch the game as well as an hour of pre-game coverage on NESN.