Bruins defense struggles with Panthers' speed in 6-4 loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Florida Panthers scored the first goal in Tuesday night's season opener against the Boston Bruins and never let up. They continued to attack and midway through the second period, the defending Stanley Cup champions had a commanding 5-1 lead over their division rivals.

The Bruins were lacking in many areas in this 6-4 loss at Amerant Bank Arena, but what was most noticeable was the team's defense – both individually and as a unit.

Joonas Korpisalo made his Bruins debut in net, and the veteran goalie had a tough time, allowing six goals on 35 shots. The only goal he absolutely had to prevent was a shorthanded goal by Sam Reinhart in the first period.

The Bruins had reduced the deficit to 2-1 and played a power play that allowed several good looks at Florida's net. But the Panthers erased all the momentum the B's had built when Reinhart beat Charlie McAvoy to the net and scored to Korpisalo.

The B's needed a save there, but Korpisalo isn't at the top of the blame list in this game. It was hung out to dry all night. In fact, the outcome could have been much worse had he not made several breakaway saves.

“Korpisalo wasn’t a problem tonight, it was the people in front of him,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after the game. “You can’t give up four backdoor tap-ins and expect your goalie to make save after save. He made a lot of saves on breakaway attempts. He was good tonight. The players in front of him, the rest of the team and…”coaching staff, we weren’t good enough.”

The result wasn't nearly as close as a two-goal win for the Panthers would suggest.

“We weren’t good enough in so many areas tonight. They were,” Jim Montgomery said. “Their execution was really good. Our execution was really bad. I can’t say exactly why we looked slow, but I think we looked slow throughout the game, not just the first ten minutes.”

Boston's defense was really bad in this game. Not only did the Panthers score six goals, they also had a 53-33 advantage in shot attempts, a 27-15 advantage in shots on goal, a 30-18 advantage in scoring chances and a 16-7 advantage in scoring chances during a 5v5 action according to Natural Stat Trick.

In all situations, the Panthers created 42 chances to score (22 dangerous chances).

Against a team with a lot of offensive firepower, you can't pass up throwing so many A-grade offenses into the net and expect to win the game. The graphic below shows how busy the Panthers were in front of the Bruins' goal last night. Look at all the red around Boston's crease. The B's didn't create the same chaos and pressure in front of Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

The Bruins have built a roster with size and strength, particularly on the blue line. But for most of last night's game, the Panthers' speed was an issue. Florida scored five of its six goals spontaneously.

The Brandon Carlo-Mason Lohrei pairing was particularly bad. The Panthers' shot attempts were 16-6 during Carlos' 13:15 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time. Florida had an 18-8 advantage in shot attempts in Löhri's 13:05 of 5-on-5 ice time.

A game is no big deal. You may remember that the Bruins' last season-opening loss was also bad. They defeated the Washington Capitals 7-0 after hoisting their Stanley Cup banner in October 2018. Nine months later, the B's were in the Stanley Cup Final.

But Tuesday's loss was a reminder that the Panthers are still a better team than the Bruins. The Panthers are able to be physical without taking stupid penalties. They are relentless on the forecheck and use their speed in all three zones. Their goaltending is usually pretty good, and that was the case again on Tuesday.

The Bruins can compete with these guys, but there is still a lot of work to be done and improvements to be made. The good thing for the B's is that they'll get another chance at Florida soon. They host the Panthers next Monday at 1 p.m. ET at TD Garden.