The Florida Panthers snapped their recent skid in dramatic fashion Wednesday night — and Brad Marchand made sure it came against familiar opponents.
Marchand scored in the fourth round of the shootout in his return to the lineup, lifting the Panthers to a 5–4 victory over the Boston Bruins at Amerant Bank Arena. The win ended Florida’s four-game losing streak and capped an emotional night against Marchand’s former team.
Anton Lundell led the Panthers’ offensive effort with a goal and two assists for his second three-point performance of the season. Matthew Tkachuk and Uvis Balinskis each contributed a goal and an assist, while Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 25 saves.
Boston’s Michael Eyssimont scored twice — both on breakaways — to pace the Bruins, who have now dropped two consecutive games in Florida via shootout, including Sunday’s NHL Stadium Series loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Mark Kastelic and Casey Mittelstadt also scored for Boston, and Joonas Korpisalo made 22 saves.
Florida fell behind early despite striking first. Eetu Luostarinen opened the scoring at 4:22 of the first period, but Eyssimont answered with two breakaway goals — including one immediately after exiting the penalty box — to give Boston a 2–1 lead after one.
The Panthers seized control in the second period with a dominant special-teams surge. Balinskis tied the game just 30 seconds into the period, and Tkachuk gave Florida a 3–2 lead with a power-play goal at 2:22. Later in the period, Lundell finished a short-handed rush set up by Sam Reinhart with 1:27 remaining to push the Panthers ahead 4–2.
Boston rallied in the third period. Kastelic cut the deficit to one, and Mittelstadt tied the game 4–4 when he lifted a rebound from a David Pastrnak shot over Bobrovsky with 9:30 remaining on the power play. The Bruins finished 1-for-7 with the man advantage.
After a scoreless overtime, Marchand delivered the decisive moment in the shootout, sealing the Panthers’ victory in his first game back after missing two contests.
The Bruins return home to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Feb. 26, while the Panthers travel to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning on Thursday night.
