'Catastrophic' turnovers doom Bruins in Game 2 loss to Panthers

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins fell to the Florida Panthers 6-3 in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference playoff series Wednesday night, the defeat the product of uncharacteristic sloppiness with the puck.

«Players didn't make the best decisions at moments,» said Bruins coach Jim Montgomery after Florida evened the best-of-seven series at one game apiece. «I thought for the majority for the first two periods, we were doing really good things with the puck, but the turnovers we had tonight were catastrophic. Right through the middle of the ice. Not typical of the turnovers [we have].»

Throughout their historic regular season, during which Boston set NHL single-season records for wins and points, the Bruins averaged 9.13 turnovers per 60 minutes. On Wednesday night, they turned the puck over 15 times.

«I think it was just trying to make plays when plays weren't there to be made. It was just execution in certain areas of our game with the puck that really cost us tonight,» said Montgomery, who said he would consider «changes everywhere» in his lineup for Game 3.

Forward Tyler Bertuzzi, who scored his first goal of the postseason in the loss, said he felt the team was flat from the start.

«I don't think we broke the puck out too well. We were a little sloppy. We gotta get back to our game plan,» he said.

The Panthers had two goals from defenseman Brandon Montour and 34 saves from goalie Alex Lyon, who posted his first career playoff victory.

«You can't get too far behind anybody. Certainly not a team like the Boston Bruins, with the season they've had this year,» said Florida coach Paul Maurice. «So you build a little belief in each game. That's what we're trying to do.»

The Panthers took a 1-0 lead 1:42 into the second period on a