The Florida Panthers won Wednesday in a way only four teams did this year.
They scored four goals in the third period against the NHL’s best third-period team.
They had Boston fans booing their team, which set NHL records for the most wins and points in the regular season.
They won with goalie Alex Lyon getting his first playoff win, with defenseman Brandon Montour having his first multi-goal playoff game and with center Sam Bennett returning from injury to show what was missing the previous 13 games.
So, here’s the hard question in the light of the following day: What’s all this mean as this 1-1 series moves to Sunrise for Game 3?
Does the Panthers’ stunning 6-3 win fill them with the confidence? Does it make a historically strong Boston team push to a new level? Has the complexion of this series changed in a sport that lends itself to big first-round upsets?
One thing changed after Game 2: The conversation around this series. Admit it, you don’t know what happens from here. That tells of the Panthers’ good work in Game 2. Everyone was sure of the outcome two games ago.
But one win in the postseason changes everything on the outside. The Miami Heat return to South Florida for a Game 3 and look down in their 1-1 series after a blowout loss against a Milwaukee team without star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Panthers look up 1-1. Boston blinked first this series. It blinked mistakenly, as a couple of costly turnovers showed. It blinked uncharacteristically, as a start with goalie Linus Ullmark ended with six goals against for the first time this season.
Boston blinked repeatedly in that third period while the Panthers stared down the moment — literally and comically stared it down if you watched the method-acting manner of Lyon walking to the locker room before the game.
The journeyman goalie was dramatically wide-eyed as he looked into a camera. He didn’t just not blink. He was — get this — having fun before the biggest game of his life.
Part of any playoff experience is getting to the know the unknowns. Lyon didn’t just show his game in providing another night of crucial stops, with none bigger than in the final seconds of the second period of a tied game.
He showed you his personality, too. At 30, having waited a career for a chance like this, he wasn’t playing scared now that it was here.
“It was fun, it was fun, I really enjoyed playing in that atmosphere,” he said afterward. “It was fun for me. I got energized. It was just fun, a good time. Happy we got the win. Very talented, very good opponent, so now is not the time to take our foot off the gas.”
That’s four “funs” in one paragraph. And if he felt that way, imagine how Bennett felt if he didn’t talk more like a buttoned-down NHL veteran.
Playing for the first time in a month, Bennett didn’t just get the game’s first hit 15 seconds in or score the game’s first goal with characteristic effort in which he physically followed the puck into the net.
He had a forecheck to cause the turnover to set up Carter Verhaeghe’s goal that made it 4-2. He brought the mix of high-end talent and physicality to complement linemate Matthew Tkachuck.
“You build a little belief in each game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Boston had a chance to effectively close down the series in Game 2. The Panthers would have had to win four of five against a great team. But now? It’s a best-of-five series?
“You can’t take anything for granted,” Lyon said.
“We just want to keep it going,” Tkachuk said.
‘It’s next, that’s it,” Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “It’s playoff hockey. It’s 1-1. We’re going down there, everything’s in front of us right now and we know we haven’t played our best hockey yet.”
Game 2 began with Boston fans offering taunting chants of “Lyon.” It ended with them booing their top team. Something changed during the game. The question now is if it changed for the night or for the series.
To Game 3 we go.
