Heat, Panthers return home tied 1-1 in playoffs. But one is soaring & the other is reeling | Opinion

The Miami Heat and Florida Panthers in their shared history have played a combined 174 playoff games during the same concurrent postseasons, and Wednesday night marked only the seventh time both have played on the same day.

Suffice to say the rare occurrence will be more memorable for the hockey team than for the guys in sneakers.

The Panthers routed the mighty Bruins in Boston, 6-3, to even their NHL first round series at 1-1.

A bit later in Milwaukee the Heat got crushed by the Bucks, 138-122, to level their NBA series 1-1 as well.

The teams head home to South Florida in the same position, mathematically, with Game 3s on Friday for the Panthers and Saturday for the Heat.

But oh my how even does not feel equal as two underdogs try to topple their sport’s No. 1 seeds.

The Panthers just climbed back into this Stanley Cup series.

It feels like the Heat just got slapped with a reality check.

To the big hockey win in a moment.

The bitter pill first.

Milwaukee just proved it can win even without superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who sat out Game 2 after leaving Game 1 early with a back injury. He could return for Game 3.

Miami did not prove it can win without Tyler Herro. He broke his hand in Game 1 and will be out the rest of this series and beyond.

But more than Herro’s absence, what happened to the Heat’s defense? Second in the NBA during the season and torched for 138 by a team missing its best player? Milwaukee’s 25 made 3-point shots -- Heat coach Erik Spoelstra used the phrase “an avalanche” -- tied an NBA playoff record.

“They were making their 3’s, and that was the game,” Jimmy Butler summarized it. “You gotta make ‘em miss. You can’t hope that they miss.”

The Bucks had seven players finish in double-figure scoring including six with at least 15 points, matching another NBA record.

A Miami franchise whose “Culture” is rooted in defense has some soul-searching to do.

Offensively Duncan Robinson, filling in for Herro, was invisible until a too-late burst. Bam Adebyao got the free throw line only one time and did not control the paint against Brook Lopez in a way that disrupted the Bucks’ inside-out game. And Milwaukee’s size advantage -- even without Antetokonmpo -- victimized Miami’s smaller lineup.

Spoelstra was noncommittal on Robinson continuing to start, acknowledging, “It is different without Tyler.”

Is there something Miami can do better?

“Yeah,” Spoelstra said. “We gotta figure that out. This feels horrible having a game like this, but we got one, and we’re going to regroup and try to take control of this series.”

The Heat playoffs have turned from an ebullient Game 1 win to something in the direction of panic or at least lost momentum because, as they return home, Giannis may be returning, too.

The Panthers series has done the opposite.

Miami should be embarrassed to lose as it did to a Bucks team sans Giannis, while Florida demonstrated the gulf between itself and “the best team ever” is not that great.

The opening game of this Boston-Florida first round playoff series looked exactly like what it was supposed to be: A rout. A Bruins team off the best regular season in NHL history vs. a lowly No. 8 seed. Boston’s 3-1 victory was routine, almost perfunctory.

Game 2 on Wednesday night back in Boston looked more like what this series now is heading back to South Florida:

Even.

It looked more like the Cats, against all odds and prognostications -- against 26 of 27 ESPN hockey experts predicting a Boston advance -- may be up to this task of an upset for the ages, seeds and regular seasons be damned.

Games 3 and 4 are home in the Sunrise rink Friday night and Sunday afternoon, and Florida at 1-1 has stripped away the mighty Bruins’ home-ice advantage with three of five remaining games at home for the Panthers.

You’d still hesitate to bet big on the Panthers, or, more so, against what Boston has been this season, but Florida has given itself a fighting chance.

After all, these teams tied 2-2 in the regular season, Florida one of only two teams to beat Boston twice.

Maybe that ought not have been ignored, or dismissed.

Sam Bennett, back for the Cats after a month out injured, slapped in the first goal for a 1-0 lead capitalizing on a Boston turnover.

Brad Marchand leveled it for the Bruins 1-1 on a shorthanded goal -- a demoralizing give-up if you let it.

But Florida charged right back with Eric Staal’s goal off another Boston miscue.

“Players didn’t make the best decisions at moments,” said Bruins coach Jim Montgomery. “The turnovers we had tonight were catastrophic.”

Boston had 15 turnovers, almost double ts season average.

The Bruins knotted the score 2-2 on Tyler Bertuzzi’s shot as a home-team power play was down to its last seconds.

The third period wasn’t a half minute in when the Cats led again, 3-2, on Brandon Montour’s shot.

It was 4-2 by mid-third on Carter Verhaeghe’s unassisted shot as the Beantown crowd grew restlessly quiet.

Montour soon hit his second in the net to make it 5-2.

A late empty-netter by Eatu Luostarinen made it 6-2 before Boston scored in final minute of garbage time.

And the Lyon King -- 30-year-old journeyman goaltender Alex Lyon, starting only the past dozen games for Florida -- once again proved himself worthy with 34 saves.

Verhaeghe’s lamp-lighter was a key goal that was especially good news for Florida.

Game 1 had seen the only goal from Matthew Tkachuk, the star who’d arrived this season in the major trade for Jonathan Huberdeau. But other Cats stars were quiet.

Aleksander Barkov had his first career playoff game with zero shots on goal. Verhaeghe, team leader with 42 goals and the team’s postseason star a year ago, had a quiet two shots. Sam Reinhart, who had 31 goal scored this season, had but one shot.

That Florida would fly home from Boston at 1-1 with Barkov, especially, still looking for his breakout game (and his team needing it) seemed good news, indeed.

Imagine what the Panthers avoided. What they’d be coming home to had they lost again Wednesday.

In NHL history, teams down 2-0 in a best-of-seven series end up winning and advancing only 13.4 percent of the time. Oddly, when those first two losses are on the road it’s only 11.4 percent. The Panthers contribute to the bleak outlook with an 0-for-5 franchise record on advancing when down 2-0, three of those ousters by a sweep.

Instead, we have us a series.

It was the mighty Bruins who surprisingly had admitted nervousness prior to the start of this first round.

Perhaps they had reason.