The Florida Panthers opened their four-game road trip with a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins in matinee action from TD Garden.
Ryan Spooner (6,7) scored in each of the first two periods to stake the B’s to a 2-0 lead. His first goal was a power-play marker set up by Torey Krug, while the second came at even-strength and was assisted by Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.
Former Bruin Reilly Smith (8) pulled one back for the Panthers, from Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Pirri, with 6:04 left in regulation before Brad Marchand (14) iced the game with an empty-net goal as soon as Roberto Luongo got to the bench. Bergeron drew the only helper on the ENG for his second point of the afternoon.
Luongo finished with 22 stops, while Tuukka Rask made 26 saves, including 13 in the final frame, for Boston.
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