Boston and Florida turned up the heat in Game 2 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series on Wednesday with a heavyweight bout between stars Matthew Tkachuk and David Pastrnak.

The visiting Bruins — who entered with a 1-0 series lead — were trailing 6-1 with just over seven minutes remaining in the third period when top winger Pastrnak and Panthers forward Tkachuk dropped the gloves in an uncharacteristic fight that Pastrnak was ready to accept when Tkachuk agreed to the challenge.

“I’m not afraid of him, to be honest,” Pastrnak said. “I can take a punch.”

The fisticuffs actually appeared to be approved by Bruins coach Jim Montgomery. Cameras showed Montgomery seemingly giving Pastrnak the nod to mix it up with Tkachuk shortly before the two went after one another.

Montgomery denied he offered explicit permission, but he wasn’t upset over Pastrnak getting physical in the Bruins’ eventual 6-1 loss that tied the series as it moves to Boston for Game 3 on Friday.

“I’m really proud of Pasta,” Montgomery said. “He just went out there and fought. You like your hockey players to be competitors.”

What Montgomery didn’t appreciate was the added hits he thought Tkachuk got in as Pastrnak went to the ice.

“That’s not part of the game to me,” Montgomery said.

For his part, Florida coach Paul Maurice felt the scrap was a positive.

“I thought it was awesome,” Maurice said.

Both Tkachuk and Pastrnak received penalties for fighting and a game misconduct. But as Pastrnak blatantly admitted after the final whistle, “The game was over.”

It was a difficult night all around for Boston, which sustained its most lopsided loss of the postseason. The Bruins started well, with Charlie Coyle offering them a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes. But it was all Florida from there, as the Panthers scored six unanswered goals to secure their first victory of the series.

Boston had been enjoying sensational goaltending by Jeremy Swayman throughout the playoffs — he entered Game 2 with a 5-2 record, .955 save percentage and 1.42 goals against average — but Montgomery pulled Swayman early in the third after he allowed the fourth Panthers goal. Swayman, who hadn’t given up more than two goals in a playoff contest to that point, was replaced by Linus Ullmark in his first action since Game 2 of Boston’s first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Montgomery didn’t think the downturn had to do with Swayman, though, as much as the Bruins having played their starter in six of seven games through a first-round series that ended Saturday and again in Monday’s Game 1 — during which Swayman was exceptional in making 38 stops in the win.

“The workload played into our effort tonight,” Montgomery said. “We didn’t have juice tonight. Swayman was terrific. I thought about taking him out at 3-1, and then when the fourth goal went in, I was like, ‘I’m taking him out now.'”

Ullmark finished with eight saves on 10 shots to Swayman’s 19 stops of 23 shots.

It has been the Bruins’ habit not to announce a starting goaltender prior to games in the postseason. It’s unlikely Montgomery will break with tradition prior to Game 3.

Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov were named finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award on Wednesday.

Voted on by fellow members of the NHL Players’ Association, it is presented annually to the most outstanding player in the NHL.

Matthews won the trophy in 2021-22 and Kucherov claimed it in 2018-19, while MacKinnon is looking for his first Ted Lindsay Award.

Matthews led the NHL with 69 goals and scored a career-high 107 points in 81 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 26-year-old forward became just the 10th player in NHL history to record six or more hat tricks in a season.

MacKinnon was second in the league with 140 points (51 goals, 89 assists) in 82 games for the Colorado Avalanche. The 28-year-old forward opened the season with a 35-game points streak at home and led the NHL in shots (405).

Kucherov set a Tampa Bay franchise record and topped the NHL with 144 points (44 goals, 100 assists) in 81 games for the Lightning. The 30-year-old forward also topped the league with 53 points on the power play.

President Joe Biden has warned Israel in his toughest public comments so far that the US would stop supplying it with some weapons if Israel invades the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

If Israeli forces launch an all-out assault on the city, the last major Hamas stronghold in the besieged enclave, the US president said “we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used, that have been used”.

In an interview with CNN, Mr Biden acknowledged US weapons have been used by Israel which have killed civilians in Gaza during its seven-month offensive aimed at destroying Hamas.

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It comes after his decision last week to pause a shipment of heavy 2,000lb bombs to Israel over concerns about a looming attack on Rafah, following public and private warnings from his administration.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centres,” Mr Biden told CNN.

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem.”

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed the weapons delay earlier on Wednesday, saying the US paused “one shipment of high payload munitions”.

“We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Mr Austin said.

“But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.”

Israel carried out military operations in Rafah earlier this week in what it described as “targeted strikes”.

Read more:
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Netanyahu’s choice: Accept ceasefire or gamble on Rafah incursion
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Mounting death toll

Nearly 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed so far in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The war began when Hamas stormed into Israel on 7 October, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity, according to Israeli tallies.

US will still supply defensive systems

Mr Biden told CNN the US would continue to provide defensive systems to Israel, including for its Iron Dome defence system.

“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” he said.

“But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to – we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”

It comes as Mr Biden’s administration is due to deliver a formal verdict this week, the first of its kind, on whether Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid have violated international and US laws.

A decision against Israel would heap further pressure on Mr Biden to limit the flow of weapons and money to Israel’s military.