Stout Defensive Effort Paces Bruins Past Panthers

BOSTON - Bruce Cassidy was looking to use Tuesday night as a measuring stick.
As he spoke to the media following the Bruins' morning skate in preparation of their showdown with the league-leading Florida Panthers, Boston's bench boss acknowledged that he was eager to see how his club stacked up against the No. 1 offensive attack in the NHL.
In the six months since the teams last met during the final week of October, much had changed on both sides. As such, Cassidy felt Tuesday's tilt was likely to be a strong indication of where the Black & Gold stand with just days until the start of the postseason.

Some 10 hours after his remarks at Warrior Ice Arena, Cassidy got his answer. And it was one that left him feeling quite pleased.
Behind a stout defensive effort and some timely scoring, the Bruins secured a 4-2 victory over the Panthers at TD Garden for their third straight victory. Erik Haula, Taylor Hall, Jake DeBrusk, and Brad Marchand had the goals for Boston, while the Black & Gold limited Florida to just 21 shots on net.
"I don't think we gave up much," said Cassidy. "[Florida] didn't look like to me that they had their usual jump tonight for whatever reason. Some of that is - we've got to take our share of credit for getting in their way. It might've just been one of those nights, but I certainly liked the way our team performed. Even offensively, I thought we generated a lot as well.
"Playing well defensively to get pucks back…against good offensive teams, that is one of the better formulas, right? If you get pucks back and check well, then you force them to defend. They get a little frustrated because they are used to scoring, so maybe that was what took place out there. I don't know. But our game was solid."
Cassidy's club outshot the Panthers, 16-3, in the third period as they locked down the one-goal lead they carried into the final frame. Given Florida's high-octane offense, it was the perfect formula, as Boston avoided a run-and-gun, track-meet style approach.
"No, that's not our game," said Cassidy. "We don't want any part of that against Florida. Unless we're defending against that with numbers. We can turn 3-on-4 rushes into 3-on-2, we are OK with that. We wouldn't want to trade chances with that team. So, we will try to get away from that type of game against that particular opponent. Some nights it might work for you, but in general, I think that lends itself more to the strength of their game more than ours."

The Bruins, however, had their share of offensive pop, particularly the second line of Hall, Haula, and David Pastrnak, which exploded for two goals in six seconds late in the first period to give Boston a 2-1 lead. And after Florida tied it on Sam Reinhart's power-play goal with just 0.6 seconds to go in the opening frame, the Bruins responded early in the second when DeBrusk deposited Marchand's rebound from the doorstep to put Boston ahead for good at 4:59 of the middle period.
"I thought it was a good test for our group," said Haula. "Florida is a high-power offensive team and keeping them to two goals is good. Just keep on growing our confidence. We're getting close to the end, and it's kind of starting to become more and more clear, I think, as the days go by of who we're gonna play. So, I think today was perfect, and I'm glad we got the win."
With two games remaining in the regular season - Thursday night against the Sabres at TD Garden and Friday night against the Maple Leafs in Toronto - the B's are, once again, building momentum with three consecutive victories and five wins in their last six games following a rough start to April.
"When we're healthy and we have everyone in our lineup, you see how powerful we can be as a team," said Hall. "Your identity's always gonna be a solid defensive team that can make you pay once we get the puck. I think our game is pretty good right now and we want to keep trending that way."

More news and notes from the Bruins' 4-2 win over the Panthers at TD Garden:

Haula Gets it Started:The pivot tied the game, 1-1, with 3:42 remaining in the first period when he put home a pretty dish from Pastrnak off a 2-on-1. The marker was Haula's third in two games after a two-goal showing Montreal and gave him 18 for the season, which is the second-highest total of his career behind his 29-goal season with Vegas in 2017-18.
"I don't know, did you?" Haula said with a chuckle when asked if he expected to have 18 goals after a slow start to the season. "Just a day at a time. Definitely can reflect and be happy with the progress of the season, how things have progressed, and sitting here today and feeling good. Moving on."
Hall was complimentary of his centerman's "ascension" as he called it, noting how Haula's strong work in the defensive zone has translated to the other end of the ice.
"He's very comfortable in the D-Zone. I think you see he's killing plays a lot more in the D-Zone, he's much more assertive to get pucks back," said Hall. "Then from there, we're all speedy guys on the rush and we seem to get better and better as the games go on reading off each other in that instance. Playoff is a different beast, there might not be that rush game.
"I feel like our forecheck and our end zone play has gotten a lot better as well since January 1. That's gonna be what the playoffs is. It might not be the same rush game every time out there, so you have to find different ways to create offense…whatever game is gonna be played we have to be ready for that and I think we are as a line."

Hall Comes in Hot:On the faceoff following Haula's tally, Hall whacked the puck away from Florida defenseman Mackenzie Weegar and broke free toward the Panthers' blue line where he corralled a feed from Pastrnak. Hall then burst into the zone on a breakaway before rifling a wrister by the glove of Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with 3:36 to go in the first.
Hall, who has three goals in his last five games, shot the puck so hard that he briefly fell to the ice.
"It's nice to score goals, I wasn't the most confident shooter for a while there," said Hall. "In the last couple of games, I've scored some goal-scorer goals. It's good to get that feeling; it really is a feel. Some people chalk it up to luck or whatever. The best goal scorers in the league, they seem to score a lot. If I can get that feeling heading into the playoffs, that's a good thing."

Marchand Breaks Through: The winger sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 3:05 remaining in the game. It was Marchand's 32nd goal of the season, but his first since April 2 - a span of 12 games. Marchand also added an assist on DeBrusk's tally and now has 78 points in 69 games.
"Yeah, empty net or not - he hit the post on one the other night. He probably went home thinking it is never going to happen," said Cassidy. "But I thought his game was good tonight. Their line was excellent. Got rewarded for going to the net, did a good job checking well."

Power Play Stays Dormant: Boston went 0-for-3 on the man advantage, stretching its scoreless stretch on the power play to 0-for-36 over 12 games since April 4.
"That first power play of the game you wanna be sharp," said Hall. "I just don't think we have the confidence right now to be that way. We need maybe a couple of practice days to get our game in order. It's all five of us on that unit need to help each other out. You know you're gonna go through that in spurts throughout the season so that's a real focal point we'll work on before playoffs start.
"If we can get pucks back, retrieve pucks after shots then our power play's great. If we're one and done and we're clearing it after every shot on goal, it's really hard to get momentum that way. I think we'll figure it out. We're too good. There are too good of players on that unit, especially that first unit, so we'll get it figured out."

Rest Could Be Coming: With a back-to-back to finish the year, Cassidy noted that he is likely to play his full lineup on Thursday against Buffalo, before determining which players - if any - will rest for the regular-season finale on Friday night in Toronto.
"Tonight, I thought they got their full share of minutes, both played very well," Cassidy said when asked about Pastrnak and Hampus Lindholm specifically. "We will get them back out there Thursday is the plan. Friday, because of the back-to-back, depending on the schedule, we will look at who needs a day and who doesn't."