Bruins tough guy Pat Maroon lets Matthew Tkachuk know that he should not have thrown punches while David Pastrnak was on the ice

Pat Maroon of the Bruins is not happy with Matthew Tkachuk

After the Boston Bruins dominated Game 1 of their second-round series against the Florida Panthers, the home team reversed its fortunes and overwhelmed the Bruins in Game 2 to tie matters up. After the Panthers built a huge advantage in the third period, the game debilitated into a series of cheap shots and fights. A rare dust up between superstar David Pastrnak of the Bruins and feisty star Matthew Tkachuk of the Panthers was in the glare of the spotlight, and Boston tough guy Pat Maroon was not pleased with the way Tkachuk conducted himself in that fight.

Maroon pointed out that Tkachuk broke the code when he threw a couple of punches at Pastrnak after the winger had already fallen to the ice. That’s not done when two players who regularly fight get into a tussle, and it shouldn’t be done when non-fighters get into a scrap.

“Obviously I don’t like how he hit him on the ground twice. I think that’s dirty,” Maroon said. “It’s the game within the game, but I don’t like the aftermath of it.”

If Maroon had been on the ice or even on the bench, the sense is that there is no way that Tkachuk would have taken any liberty with Pastrnak or even invited him to fight. However, Maroon had already been sent to the locker room after receiving a 10-minutes misconduct after he engaged with Nick Cousins of the Panthers at the 10:25 mark of the third period and both players were hit with 10-minute misconduct penalties.

Maroon, Bruins hope to get back on track at home in Game 3

The two teams resume their series Friday night at TD Garden in Boston. The Bruins hope to get back to their winning ways since they had beaten the Panthers in all four regular-season games as well as Game 1 of the current playoff meeting.

However, the Panthers were the Atlantic Division champions and they beat the Bruins in last year’s first-round meeting between the two teams.

This is a clearly a major rivalry at this point. The Bruins were constantly reminded throughout the season and during their first-round victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs that they had been upset by the Panthers in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

The final period of Wednesday’s 6-1 Florida triumph had the look of an old-time NHL game from the 1960s or ’70s when brawls involving multiple members of both teams were common. Game 3 is likely to be another hard-hitting game with players going close to the edge, but another huge brawl is not expected.

Too much is at stake and both teams are more interested in claiming a 2-1 series lead rather than winning a battle in the alley.

Neither David Pastrnak nor Matthew Tkachuk appeared to be hurt in the fight and both are expected to be in the lineup in Game 3. The Bruins took home-ice advantage away from the Panthers, but they would have to win all three games at TD Garden to maintain that edge and win the series.

The Bruins lost two of four home games against the Maple Leafs in the first round and three of four home matchups with the Panthers in last year’s postseason series.