The Florida Panthers dropped its final road game of the regular season 3-2 to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden when Jesper Boqvist scored 2:05 into overtime to all but cinch the Atlantic Division crown for the home side.
Florida opened the scoring 37 seconds into the action when Vladimir Tarasenko dumped the puck in on a change and it caromed into the right circle, where Matthew Tkachuk took possession and found space between Linus Ullmark’s right arm and torso. Gustav Forsling picked up the secondary assist on Tkachuk’s 25th goal. That’s the fourth time the Cats have scored in the opening minute this season.
The Bruins tied the score 5:05 later, thanks in large part to an ill-advised play by Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who decided to pass to Tarasenko as he was in the process of being knocked down by Hampus Lindholm. Pavel Zacha clamied the loose puck before feeding Danton Heinen, who backhanded it to an incoming Charlie McAvoy. McAvoy sized up Sergei Bobrovksy before snapping home a shot from between the circles. Heinen collected his 10th point in the last 11 games.
After killing off Boston’s first four power-play chances, the Cats would yield on the fifth. David Pastrnak knifed into the zone before dishing off to Brad Marchand, who slightly elevated the puck into the slot for Charlie Coyle to steer into the back of the net with 4:15 left in the second and Tkachuk off for interference.
Aleksander Barkov would even it up 5:24 into the third. After Barkov, Forsling and Sam Reinhart exhanged with each other near the blue line, Reinhart finally moved towards Ullmark, forcing a blocker save that sent the puck right to Barkov, who quickly converted the rebound chance.
Shortly after Bobrovksy made a huge pad stop on Marchand late in regulation to help earn his team a point, Boqvist gave the Bruins the season series sweep by poking the puck away from Ekman-Larsson, breaking the other way and finishing over the glove with a rising wrister.
The Panthers were clearly the better team at 5-on-5, leading 48-28 in shot attempts, but the Bruins got the game’s only power-play goal while the Cats went 0-for-3 with the man-advantage. A tough result for the Panthers, who in addition to swallowing a bitter defeat, saw the Toronto Maple Leafs shave another point off their second place lead. The Buds are now just five points behind the Cats, with two games in hand. Big picture, after earning three points against Ottawa and Boston in the second half of the trip, Florida seems to be back on track. They’ll return to Broward County and open a four-game homestand against the Senators on Tuesday that also includes games againt Columbus and Buffalo. So, some good chances are on tap to lower their magic number for home ice advantage, which now stands at seven.
Tea & Honey
- Sam Reinhart’s primary assist on Aleksander Barkov’s goal was his 90th point of the season. He is the sixth player in franchise history to reach that mark, joining Jonathan Huberdeau, Matthew Tkachuk, Barkov, Pavel Bure and Olli Jokinen. Reinhart’s 90 points is the eighth-highest single season total, with games remaining to the climb the ladder.
- Barkov’s aforementioned goal extended his current point streak to seven games. He has produced five goals and ten points over that span.
- Charlie McAvoy established a new-career high with his 11th goal of the season. Three of McAvoy’s 11 goals came against the Panthers.
- Linus Ullmark and Sergei Bobrovsky each finished the playoff style tilt with 27 saves. Ullmark was named Third Star for his efforts.
- After splitting the season between Boston and Providence, Jesper Boqvist notched his first NHL game-winner of the campaign. He has six goals and 14 points in 43 games with the Bruins.