Hall, Bruins defeat Panthers in Game 3 to take lead in East 1st Round

SUNRISE, Fla. --Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist for the Boston Bruins in a 4-2 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at FLA Live Arena on Friday.

"It was good to get off to a nice start as an individual and as a team," Hall said. "I thought we were dialed in right from the start of the game."
David Pastrnak scored, Dmitry Orlov and Jake DeBrusk each had two assists, and Linus Ullmark made 29 saves for the Bruins, who won the Presidents' Trophy as the top team during the regular season.
RELATED: [Complete Bruins vs. Panthers series coverage]
Boston leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is here Sunday.
The Bruins played without captain Patrice Bergeron and forward David Krejci. Bergeron did not play for the third straight game; he's missed the past two with an upper-body injury and Game 1 because of an illness. Krejci (upper body) was a late scratch.
"We saw Boston Bruins hockey today," coach Jim Montgomery said. "Whether 'Bergy' and 'Krech 'were playing, we needed everybody to start playing. We had some passengers (in a 6-3 loss in Game 2). Tonight, we didn't have any passengers."

Gustav Forsling and Sam Reinhart scored for the Panthers, the second wild card in the East.
Alex Lyon allowed three goals on 26 shots before being relieved 8:32 into the third period by Sergei Bobrovsky, who made eight saves in his first game since March 27.
"It had nothing really to do with (Lyon)," Florida coach Paul Maurice said about pulling his starting goalie. "He's played heavy-pressure games and a lot of them. And at 3-0, in my mind, if we mount a comeback, it's not because our goalie stands on his head. We've got to get some action going.
"And I've got another goalie -- who's a really, really good goalie -- that hasn't played in a long time. There's a risk, right? You put a guy in who's been sitting for a while, but he needs a little bit of action. That's all that was. It was not a critique of Alex's game."
Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad initially left at 11:11 of the second period after colliding with Charlie McAvoy in Boston's zone. Ekblad returned and played two shifts, but did not return for the third period. There was no update after the game.
Hall gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 2:26 of the first period with a wrist shot from above the right face-off circle that went off Lyon's glove.
"I thought what set the tone was Charlie McAvoy laying a big hit in the first shift (on Eetu Luostarinen) and that was kind of a telltale sign of the night and how hard we were gonna play," Hall said. "And the first period, whether your score or not, you want to dictate play and you want to play Bruins hockey; I thought we did that. "
Charlie Coyle made it 2-0 at 6:00 of the second period when he tipped in a shot from the top of the right circle by Brad Marchand.
Pastrnak extended it to 3-0 at 8:32 of the third period with a wrist shot from the left circle after taking a stretch pass from Orlov, and Nick Foligno made it 4-0 at 11:45 when he went forehand-backhand after taking a centering pass from Hall.

Forsling cut it to 4-1 with a short-handed goal at 14:41, redirecting a pass by Luostarinen on a 2-on-1 before Reinhart made it 4-2 at 15:59 when he jammed in a rebound during a 6-on-5.
"They played a solid game," Reinhart said. "There wasn't much out there for us. We were able to try and salvage something late, but they played a solid game. So, you've got to learn from it and move on."
NOTES:Orlov has an assist in each of his first three Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Bruins, joining Glen Wesley (1988) as the only defenseman in their history to get a point in each of his first three playoff games with the team. … Boston forward Jakub Lauko had five hits in 6:22 in his NHL postseason debut.