The Florida Panthers went for a fast knockout on the Bruins on Wednesday however the B’s took their finest shot, steadied their legs and got here away with a hard-earned 3-1 victory at Amerant Bank Arena.
Linus Ullmark (27 saves) was glorious early on and the B’s made a pair of second-period targets maintain up for the victory.
The Panthers have been with out Selke Award candidate Sasha Barkov however, contemplating the depth with which the Panthers began the sport, it was an excellent win for the B’s after blowing a late lead and dropping in Tampa on Monday.
With Charlie McAvoy’s excessive, late hit on Oliver Ekman-Larson from Oct. 30 nonetheless on their minds, the Panthers got here out flying and bodily, touchdown a few early hits on the B’s defenseman, first by Ryan Lomberg after which Nick Cousins. McAvoy tried dropping the gloves with Cousins however he by no means received shut sufficient to him earlier than the linesmen jumped in.
“Yeah, they targeted him and I thought that was a high hit, the first hit of the game. And you understand it. It’s part of the code of the NHL after the hit that Charlie had, there’s going to be a little retribution. You understand that. And I thought Charlie handled it really well,” mentioned Jim Montgomery, whose workforce improved to 14-1-3 and a ridiculous 79-13-8 in Montgomery’s first 100 common season video games.
Florida dominated the early going and, if not for Ullmark (15 first-period saves), the B’s might have been chasing the sport from the get-go. But after the Panthers received the primary two energy performs, the B’s penalty kill slowed down the Florida assault and, somewhat amazingly, the B’s took a 1-0 lead into the primary intermission.
On a 4-on-4, Danton Heinen dropped the puck within the impartial zone to a rushing Charlie Coyle to create a 2-on-1 with Brandon Carlo. Once within the offensive zone, Coyle went proper then left earlier than beating Sergei Bobrovsky with a backhander over the blocker for his seventh of the yr with 1:25 left the interval.
Ullmark would solely face 13 extra pictures within the closing two intervals. He was completely happy to be busy early.
“It gets the blood flow going and you get a little bit warm,” Ullmark informed TNT. “It’s nice to see pucks in the beginning. We did a good job of keeping them to the outside and then it’s always nice to get a little confidence coming up big on a couple of those saves.”
The B’s received a late energy play when Anton Lundell crosschecked Matt Poitras within the jaw after the whistle in entrance of the Florida web with 59 seconds left within the interval. Lundell might have simply gotten a five-minute main however he escaped with only a two-minute high-sticking minor.
The B’s couldn’t make the Panthers and Lundell pay on the truncated PP, and it was Lundell who tied the sport at 10:33 of the second.
An extended Cousins shot from the blue line first went off Mason Lohrei’s shin pad after which bounced off Lundell’s skate previous Ullmark.
But the B’s received it proper again lower than a minute later at 11:14. After Bobrovksy stopped Patrick Brown on a breakaway, the Panthers have been in scramble mode. The puck got here out to John Beecher, who drew out a sprawling Bobrovsky and tried to tuck it into the empty web. He misplaced the puck however received credit score for the objective when it bounced dwelling off a sliding Ekman-Larson. It was his third of the season and second in as many video games.
Then, after Ullmark made an amazing pad save on an all-alone Kevin Stenlund on the high of the crease, the B’s went up by two targets on a rating from a really welcome supply. Poitras and Jake DeBrusk battled within the nook and DeBrusk got here out with it. He took one in-tight shot that Bobrovsky stopped, however he was in a position to slip dwelling the put-back shot at 14:19. It was simply the second objective of the season for struggling DeBrusk, snapping an eight-game goal-less streak.
“For me, it’s one of those times where you realy feel like you’ve contributed to us getting that momentum and us getting those two quick ones,” mentioned Ullmark.
The B’s had an opportunity to place the hammer down when Heinen had Bobrovsky flat on his stomach however he elected to dish it again to a coated Trent Frederic.
But the B’s gave Florida nothing within the third interval till coach Paul Maurice pulled Bobrovsky with over two minutes left in regulation. But there can be no late equalizers on this evening. The third can be one of many B’s finest defensive efforts of the season because the anticipated Florida push by no means materialized and so they left Florida with a stable victory of their again pocket.
Source: www.bostonherald.com