Panthers squander late lead; Bruins sweep season series in playoff-intense game
The Boston Bruins have been a measuring stick of sorts for the Florida Panthers all season. The two teams are atop the Atlantic Division, and there is still some bad blood between them after the Panthers upset the Bruins in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
Through three meetings, Florida has come close to upending Boston.
But on Tuesday, the Bruins once again got the better of the Panthers.
Boston scored twice in a span of 2:01 late in the third period to beat Florida 4-3 at Amerant Bank Arena. Trent Frederic tied the game with a powerplay goal with 4:22 left to play before Pavel Zacha scored the game-winner against Sergei Bobrovsky with 2:21 remaining on the clock.
“They got a couple of big goals at the end,” Florida forward Eetu
Luostarinen said. “That stinks.”
It was a physical game, with 90 combined hits and 15 penalties called. Offensively,
the teams combined for just 43 shots on goal.
“It was a heck of a game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “It was as good of a game as we’ve been part of this year in terms of speed and physicality . ... Both teams fought hard not to give much up.”
Evan Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe scored for the Panthers (46-21-5), with Verhaeghe’s third-period tally giving Florida a temporary 3-2 lead with 10:07 left in regulation.
But the Panthers never led by more than a goal, with Boston (42-16-15) responding each time Florida scored before ultimately taking its first — and only — lead in the final minutes.
“It was just that tight of a game,” Maurice said, “that it would be a bounce
around the net that made the difference.”
Florida was on the opposite end of the bounces late.
“They scored one more goal than we did,” said Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, who returned to the lineup Tuesday after missing three games due to a lower-body injury. “We battled hard. They battled hard. It was a tight game all the way to the end . ... We’ll definitely learn from this game. Most of the game, we played the right way. We didn’t cheat for anything. We tried to make the right plays all over the ice. They’re a good team, so they’re going to have their momentum.”
The Panthers lost the first two meetings against
the Bruins 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 30 in Boston and 3-1 in Sunrise on Nov. 22. The teams meet up one more time in the regular season: April 6 in Boston.
Tuesday marked the second time in three games the Panthers have squandered a lead in the third period, also doing so in their shootout loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday.
“We lost the game,” Verhaeghe said. “It’s frustrating, but I think it was good to get into that type of game. It was intense. It was a hard-fought battle. Obviously, we did this in New York, too. We get a lead . ... we’ve got to find a way to protect it. But it’s a good learning experience for us to do what we can and get ready to gear up.”
THIS AND THAT
Reinhart’s goal was his 51st of the season, putting him eight shy of tying the Panthers’ franchise record of 59 set by Pavel Bure in the 2000-01 season.
Verhaeghe now has 33 goals on the season, 19 of which have been scored in the third period.
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126
Boston Florida Toronto Tampa Bay Detroit Buffalo Montreal Ottawa Metropolitan
NY Rangers Carolina Philadelphia Washington New Jersey NY Islanders Pittsburgh Columbus
Central
Dallas Colorado Winnipeg Nashville St. Louis Minnesota Arizona Chicago Pacific
Vancouver Edmonton Los Angeles
GP W LOT Pts GF GA
73 42 16 15 99 245 203 72 46 21 5 97 234 177 71 40 22 9 89 261 226 71 39 25 7 85 250 235 72 36 29 7 79 245 240 72 34 33 5 73 216 216 71 27 32 12 66 196 245 70 30 36 4 64 225 249 GP W L OT Pts GF GA
72 48 20 4 100 246 199 73 45 21 7 97 248 199 73 36 27 10 82 217 226 71 36 26 9 81 198 224 73 36 33 4 76 241 247 71 30 26 15 75 212 239 71 31 30 10 72 209 214 72 23 37 12 58 207 266
GP W LOT Pts GF GA
73 45 19 9 99 270 219 72 46 21 5 97 270 214 72 44 22 6 94 221 177 72 43 25 4 90 236 210 72 38 30 4 80 208 217 71 34 28 9 77 220 230 72 30 37 5 65 213 236 72 21 46 5 47 160 257 GP W LOT Pts GF GA
72 45 19 8 70 43 23 4 71 38 22 11
98 251 192 90 252 204 87 223 185 72 39 25 8 71 33 33 5 71 29 29 13 72 24 44 4 71 16 47 8 86 232 214 71 217 231 71 189 206 52 177 259 40 158 291
NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.
Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.
THURSDAY
NY Islanders at Florida, 7
Philadelphia at Montreal, 7
Chicago at Ottawa, 7
Columbus at Pittsburgh, 7
Washington at Toronto, 7
Detroit at Carolina, 7:30
San Jose at Minnesota, 8
Calgary at St. Louis, 8
Vegas at Winnipeg, 8
NY Rangers at Colorado, 9
Los Angeles at Edmonton, 9
Nashville at Arizona, 10
Anaheim at Seattle, 10
Dallas at Vancouver, 10
WEDNESDAY
Ottawa at Buffalo
Boston at Tampa Bay
TUESDAY
Boston 4, Florida 3
NY Rangers 6, Philadelphia 5 (OT) Pittsburgh 4, Carolina 1
Washington 4, Detroit 3 (OT)
New Jersey 6, Toronto 3
Nashville 5, Vegas 4 (OT)
Edmonton 4, Winnipeg 3 (OT)
Chicago 3, Calgary 1
Montreal 2, Colorado 1
Arizona 6, Columbus 2
Seattle 4, Anaheim 0
Dallas 6, San Jose 3
Boston 1 1 2—4 Florida 2 0 1—3
First Period:—1, Florida, Rodrigues 11 (Barkov, Tarasenko) 0:27 2, Boston, McAvoy 10 (Grzelcyk, Zacha) 17:43 3, Florida, Reinhart 51 (Luostarinen, Kulikov) 18:56.Penalties:—Wotherspoon, Bos (roughing), 1:10; Bennett, Fla (roughing), 1:10; Wotherspoon, Bos (roughing), 1:10; Lundell, Fla (hooking), 13:59.
Second Period:—4, Boston, Pastrnak 46 (McAvoy) 15:59.Penalties:—Bennett, Fla major (fighting), 5:11; Lindholm, Bos major (fighting), 5:11; Beecher, Bos (slashing), 7:15; Tkachuk, Fla (high sticking), 8:38; Marchand, Bos (roughing), 10:43; Mikkola, Fla (roughing), 10:43; Marchand, Bos (cross checking), 10:43; Mikkola, Fla (cross checking), 10:43.
Third Period:—5, Florida, Verhaeghe 34 (Ekman-Larsson, M.Tkachuk) 9:53 6, Boston, Frederic 19 (Marchand, Swayman) 15:38 (pp) 7, Boston, Zacha 19 (Pastrnak, Wotherspoon) 17:39.Penalties:—Stenlund, Fla (slashing), 11:11; Marchand, Bos (interference), 11:34; Rodrigues, Fla (delay of game), 14:17.
Shots on Goal:—Boston
Florida 8-8-5—21.
Power-play opportunities:—Boston
4; Florida 0 of 3.
Goalies:—Boston Swayman 23-8-8 (21 shots-18 saves). Florida Bobrovsky
32-16-3 (21-17).
A:—18,689 (19,250).T:—2:31.
Referees:—Kendrick Nicholson, T.J. Luxmore.Linesmen:—Kyle Flemington, Travis Gawryletz. 11-4-6—21. 1 of