“That’s how we want to come out every game,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said. “We came out ready."
In the second period, Brad Marchand, who was battling hard right on top of the blue paint, re-directed a pass from Jake DeBrusk past Bobrovsky to halve Boston’s deficit to 2-1 at 3:38.
Making his season debut after suffering an injury in the preseason, Sam Bennett exited the game in the middle frame and did not return following an incident with Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm that resulted in him leaving the ice with the assistance of a trainer.
“We’ll look at him tomorrow,” head coach Paul Maurice said of Bennett, a key cog of the team's top-six. “Fortunately we’ve got a couple days here. He was walking around after, but we won’t know until tomorrow.”
Lethal in transition this season, the Bruins got the score knotted up in the third period when Charlie McAvoy finished off a slick sequence by taking a centering feed from David Pastrnak and beating Bobrovsky from the slot to make it 2-2 at 7:20.
McAvoy’s night ended soon after when the Bruins defenseman received a match penalty for an illegal check to the head on Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Entering tonight’s matchup with a 97.1% success rate on the penalty kill, Boston survived the five-minute power play for Florida.
Like Bennett, the Panthers won’t know more on Ekman-Larsson’s status until tomorrow.
“I think we weren’t quick enough,” Barkov said of the power play. “Obviously we had some shots and some chances, but I don’t think we moved the puck quick enough or shot enough pucks. Obviously on that five-minute power play we should’ve put more pucks to the net.”
At 3:36 of overtime, Pavel Zacha sniped a shot from the right circle on a 2-on-1 rush to win it for the Bruins, who kept their season-opening point streak alive and improved to 8-0-1 in the standings.
“Our first period was outstanding,” Barkov said. “We just have to learn how to keep going the same way when we start the right way. It’s been happening all season, we have good periods and bad periods. We want to establish that game that we were playing 60 minutes as hard as possible, not just 20 minutes or 40 minutes. I know they’re a good team. They’re in first place. If you give them chances, they’re going to score.”
THEY SAID IT
“Everyone was excited about him coming back. He’s such a big part of our culture here. Let’s hope for the best that it’s not long term. We missed him and we saw that in the first period. We played really good in the first period and he was part of that.” – Aleksander Barkov on Sam Bennett's injury
“On our power play, we want to get one there, for sure. Overall, I think we came out very strong. I think we had a real good first period, and then they just got into it.” – Gustav Forsling
CATS STATS
- Aleksander Barkov tied the record for most games played in franchise history (671).
- Sam Reinhart is the third player in franchise history to score eight goals in the first eight games of a season.
- Niko Mikkola notched an assist for the second straight game.
- The Panthers blocked 19 shots.
- The Panthers led 74-56 in shot attempts.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The road trip rolls on.
The Panthers will battle the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
