BOSTON (AP) — David Pastrnak had one goal and assisted on Pavel Zacha's winner as the Boston Bruins scored three times in the third period to overcome a two-goal deficit and beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Four days after Bruins captain Brad Marchand was traded to the Panthers, his old team beat his new one and sent the defending Stanley Cup champions to their first loss in seven games. Boston, which had lost eight of nine heading into the trade deadline, has since won back-to-back games against likely playoff teams from Florida.
Marchand didn’t play while he recovers from an unspecified upper-body injury that knocked him out of Boston’s March 1 game in Pittsburgh. He took part in a morning skate at the TD Garden, telling reporters afterward: “It still felt weird.”
The former Bruins captain was well-represented in jerseys in the crowd, including a pair of fans wearing brand new No. 63 Panthers sweaters along the glass next to the penalty box.
Dmitry Kulikov scored to snap a 46-game drought, and Mackie Samoskevich made it 2-0 early in the third period on a five-on-three power play. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots for Florida, which had won 11 of its previous 13 games.
But Boston made it 2-1 when Casey Mittelstadt, one of the team’s trade deadline acquisitions, found Pastrnak in front midway through the third. Mason Lohrei tied it with 6:09 left, and then Pastrnak fed Zacha for the winner with 3:17 left.
Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves for the Bruins.
Key moment
Florida poked a puck through Swayman's pads with 1:31 left but the officials blew the play dead before it crossed the line.
Key stat
Pastrnak's goal snapped Florida's shutout streak of 186 minutes, 49 seconds — the longest in franchise history. The Panthers' previous record was 182:37 set from Feb. 21-27, 2004.
Up Next
The Panthers are in Toronto on Thursday night and the Bruins visit Ottawa.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Jimmy Golen, The Associated Press