The Boston Bruins staged a dramatic third-period comeback, scoring three unanswered goals to erase a two-goal deficit and defeat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Tuesday night.
David Pastrnak played a pivotal role in the victory, scoring Boston’s first goal and assisting on Pavel Zacha’s game-winner. The win came just four days after longtime Bruins captain Brad Marchand was traded to Florida, adding an extra layer of intrigue to the matchup. The defending Stanley Cup champions, who had won six straight entering the game, suffered their first loss in seven contests.
Marchand did not play as he continues to recover from an upper-body injury sustained on March 1 against Pittsburgh. However, his presence was felt throughout TD Garden, where numerous fans donned his old Bruins jersey—and even a few sported his new No. 63 Panthers sweater.
Boston had been struggling before the trade deadline, dropping eight of nine games, but has since rebounded with consecutive victories over top-tier teams from Florida.
Florida took the lead in the first period when Dmitry Kulikov ended a 46-game goal drought, and Mackie Samoskevich extended the advantage to 2-0 early in the third on a five-on-three power play.
Boston, however, came alive in the final 10 minutes. Casey Mittelstadt, one of the team’s trade deadline acquisitions, found Pastrnak in front of the net to cut the deficit in half. Then, with 6:09 left, Mason Lohrei tied the game. Just under three minutes later, Pastrnak set up Zacha for the game-winner.
The Panthers nearly forced overtime with 1:31 left when they poked a puck through Jeremy Swayman’s pads, but the officials had already blown the play dead before it crossed the line.
Pastrnak’s goal snapped Florida’s shutout streak at 186 minutes, 49 seconds, the longest in franchise history. Swayman made 24 saves to secure the win for Boston. Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots for Florida, which had won 11 of its previous 13 games.
The Panthers head to Toronto for a matchup against the Maple Leafs on Thursday night, while the Bruins will visit the Ottawa Senators.
