Bruins hold off Panthers, increase wild card lead

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins extended their lead for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, defeating the Florida Panthers 4-2 at TD Garden on Tuesday.

Taylor Hall and Brad Marchand each had a goal and an assist, and Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak each had two assists for Boston (50-25-5), which has won five of six. Linus Ullmark made 19 saves.
The Bruins lead the Washington Capitals by five points for the first wild card with two games remaining for each. The Capitals lost 4-1 to the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
"We did a good job with [checking Florida]," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I don't think we gave up much. Certainly in the first period they got some good looks. They didn't look like they had their usual jump, to me, tonight. … I certainly liked the way our team performed, even offensively. I thought we generated a lot."

Gustav Forsling and Sam Reinhart scored for Florida (57-17-6), which lost its second straight after a 13-game winning streak and has clinched the No. 1 seed in the East. Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves.
"I felt good. … It's unfortunate that we didn't win tonight, but it was a good game and was kind of the atmosphere of playoff hockey, for sure," Bobrovsky said. "Definitely, it's a good [test]. … They have a good team. It's a good fight, a good battle. It's great to have those games before the playoffs."
Jake DeBrusk gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead at 4:59 of the second when he batted in the rebound of Marchand's shot, and Marchand scored into an empty net for the 4-2 final at 16:55, ending an 11-game goal drought.
Forsling put the Panthers ahead 1-0 at 8:00 of the first with a wrist shot from the point through traffic after a Bruins turnover.
"I think after the first we weren't that happy about it, and we wanted to come up big in the second. It's a tight game," Forsling said. "We want to play games like this. It's a lot of fun to play on the road against a great team. I think it was a good test for us, and we're going to learn a lot from it."
Erik Haula tied it 1-1 at 16:18 with a one-timer from the bottom of the right face-off circle on a 2-on-1 with Pastrnak.
"Florida is a high-power offensive team, and keeping them to two goals is good," Haula said. "We just keep on growing our confidence. We're getting close to the end [of the regular season]. … Today was perfect. Glad we got the win."
Hall gave Boston a 2-1 lead six seconds later on a breakaway at 16:24 off a pass from Pastrnak after Florida turned the puck over off the face-off.
"It's nice to score goals," Hall said. "I wasn't the most confident shooter for a while there, but the last couple games, I've scored some goal-scorer goals. It's good to get that feel. It really is a feel. Some people chalk it up to luck or whatever. … If I can get that feel as we're heading into the playoffs, it's a good thing."

Reinhart tied it 2-2 on the power play with 0.5 seconds remaining in the period, scoring on a rebound to the right of the crease.
"I think the whole game, we had trouble getting energy and getting anything going. They played hard, and played a little more desperate than we did, hence the score," Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. "We didn't really generate much. Again, credit to them."
NOTES: Florida forward Anton Lundell (upper body) and defenseman Radko Gudas (lower body) each left the game in the second period. There was no update on either. … Reinhart scored his 32nd goal of the season. Two other players have scored as many in their first season with the Panthers: Mike Hoffman (36 in 2018-19) and Ray Whitney (32 in 1997-98). … Forsling scored Florida's 100th first-period goal of the season. They have at least 100 goals in all three regulation periods this season (109 in the second; 108 in the third). Since 1995-96, the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning and 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins are the only other teams to have done it. … Boston held Florida to three shots in the third period. … Haula and Hall tied for the second fastest two goals in Bruins history. Ray Getliffe and Leroy Goldsworthy scored five seconds apart against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 4, 1938.