David Pastrnak scored with 1.2 seconds left in overtime for the Boston Bruins, who snapped a six-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the host Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon in Sunrise.
Pastrnak, who finished with two goals and one assist, got the game-winner on an attempted pass that deflected in off the stick of Florida’s Sam Reinhart. The puck carried over the head of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
That gave Pastrnak six goals in his past five games.
The Bruins, who earned their first win of the calendar year after an 0-5-1 stretch, got one goal each from Morgan Geekie and Oliver Wahlstrom. Mason Lohrei added two assists.
Jeremy Swayman made 40 saves to break his personal five-game skid.
The Panthers got two goals from Reinhart and one from Evan Rodrigues.
Reinhart’s second goal came with just 2.8 seconds left in regulation, forcing overtime. His team-leading 25 goals rank among the top 10 in the NHL.
Bobrovsky made 14 saves, including a standout stop on a Pastrnak breakaway with 8:23 left in the third.
Boston opened the scoring with 13:58 left in the first as Geekie found the net on a backhanded rebound. Lohrei, who shot from beyond the left circle, earned the primary assist.
Florida tied the score in similar fashion as Rodrigues got a rebound goal with 4:31 remaining in the first. Uvis Balinskis had the long shot and Rodrigues squeezed the puck under Swayman’s right armpit.
Boston took a 2-1 lead with 3:49 left in the second. Less than one minute after killing off a penalty, Pastrnak got behind Dmitri Kulikov, then got his stick down just in time to tap in a perfect pass from Geekie.
Florida tied the score just 43 seconds into the third. Aleksander Barkov drove in from the left circle before passing to Reinhart for a tap-in goal.
Boston quickly regained the lead on a great individual effort by Wahlstrom, who forced a turnover with his hit on Niko Mikkola. After his aggression on the right side, Wahlstrom skated to the left and was rewarded with a rebound chance from point-blank range.
That score gave Boston a 3-2 lead with 17:54 left.
Pastrnak nearly had an empty-net goal with 18.6 seconds left, but the puck hit the left post.
Reinhart took advantage as he jabbed at the puck from in close. The puck floated over Swayman’s blocker to tie the score.
–Field Level Media
