On Wednesday night in Sunrise, Florida, the Boston Bruins defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 thanks to 27 saves from reigning Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark.
The Bruins, who are now 5-0-2 in their last seven games, were led in scoring by Charlie Coyle, John Beecher, and Jake DeBrusk.
The Panthers, who had won seven of their previous eight games, were led in scoring by Anton Lundell. 22 saves were made by Sergei Bobrovsky.
This season, the Bruins have a 2-0-0 record against the Panthers. That’s a little payback considering that the Panthers defeated the Bruins in the playoff opening round the previous year, following Boston’s NHL record-setting 135 points.
Despite skating in the morning, Panthers center Aleksander Barkov missed his second straight game because of a knee injury.
Both Florida and Boston failed to capitalize on their power plays, going 0-for-2 and 0-for-3 respectively. In 62.7 percent of the faceoffs, the Panthers prevailed.
At 18:35 in the first frame, Boston scored first. As the teams skated four-on-four, Coyle accepted a drop pass from Danton Heinen in the neutral zone. Swiftly moving beyond the Panthers, Coyle faked out defenseman Brandon Montour right before he scored on a backhander.
At 10:33 of the second frame, Nick Cousins’ shot from off Lundell’s right skate gave Florida a one-point lead. Evan Rodrigues of the Panthers was also in front of the net, acting as a screen.
After less than a minute, Beecher skated around Bobrovsky for what looked to be an easy goal, giving Boston a 2-1 lead. However, Beecher lost control of the puck and shoved it toward the goal line rather than into the goal, where it bounced off Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s diving right arm.
Jakub Lauko received the first assist after gathering the rebound and passing it to Beecher.
At 14:19 of the second period, DeBrusk rebounded his own shot and banged the puck in off the left post to give Boston a 3-1 lead.
