The Florida Panthers wrapped up an awful road trip with a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins in a Saturday matinee at TD Garden.
After Jaromir Jagr tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play goal, from Keith Yandle and Jonathan Marchessault, at the 9:53 mark of the second period, David Krejci took advantage of goaltender Reto Berra’s clearing gaffe to score the go-ahead goal 4:37 later.
The Bruins padded their lead in the final frame on a power-play marker from Brad Marchand, his team-leading 39th goal, and Patrice Bergeron’s unassisted empty-netter with 12 seconds left in regulation.
Bergeron also scored in the second period to answer Thomas Vanek’s second as a Panther. Vanek’s deflection goal was set up by Nick Bjugstad and Colton Sceviour.
Noel Acciari opened the scoring with the only goal of the first period.
David Pastrnak had two assists for the Bruins, who moved closer to clinching a playoff spot by opening up a four-point lead on the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Tuukka Rask and Berra each finished the game with 24 saves.
The Panthers will return to begin their final homestand of the season against the Montreal Canadiens, looking to end an ugly four-game skid.
Highlights
Tea & Honey
- Boston swept all five games from the Panthers this season. The Panthers earned one out of a possible ten points and scored just seven times against the Bruins.
- Tuukka Rask’s win was the 20th of his career against the Cats. Rask’s record is an astounding 20-3-1 versus Florida.
- The quintet of Jonathan Huberdeau, Jaromir Jagr, Vincent Trocheck, Keith Yandle and Alex Petrovic all finished with -3 ratings. Yandle led the Cats with four shots on goal.
- Patrice Bergeron’s two-goal performance allowed the gritty forward to reach the 20-goal plateau for the eighth time in his career.
- In a class move, Shawn Thornton was named third star in the former Bruin’s final game in Boston.
- Michael Sgarbossa returned to the lineup and had a hit and a takeaway in 8:33 TOI.
- The Panthers were outscored 8-0 in the first period of the four-game road trip and never led in any of the games.
- Wash Florida’s latest loss down with hearty Stanley Cup of Chowder. It’s um um good./