Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves to lead the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Mackie Samoskevich and Sam Bennett scored for Florida (37-35-3, 77 points). Samoskevich has a career-high three-game goal streak.
The Panthers, the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions, started the day next-to-last in the Eastern Conference, although they have not yet been officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Boston (43-25-8, 94 points) is the top wild-card team in the East. The Bruins had a four-game win streak snapped and fell to 15-15-7 on the road.
Fraser Minten scored for Boston, while Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves.
The Panthers are missing 11 injured players. That includes defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Dmitry Kulikov, who went down this week.
Of the six defensemen used by Florida, only two — Seth Jones and Gustav Forsling — started the season with the Panthers. The other four are all 24 and relatively inexperienced: Mike Benning, Donovan Sebrango, Tobias Bjornfot and Mikulas Hovorka.
For the second straight game, Florida got off to a fast start, leading 2-1 after the first period.
The Panthers opened the scoring with 4:20 gone. A.J. Greer, who entered the game with a team-high 183 hits, got in on the forecheck, forcing a turnover. Samoskevich intercepted the bad pass by Henri Jokiharju. To make matters worse for Boston, Jokiharju inadvertently screened Swayman, and Samoskevich’s shot from the left circle bounced in off the left post.
Bennett’s goal with 7:39 elapsed in the first gave Florida a 2-0 lead. Greer was involved again, getting a primary assist due to his shot from the point. Bennett scored on a rebound from the slot, lifting the puck over Swayman’s blocker.
Boston got on the board with just 27 seconds left in the first. On the play, two Panthers – Sebrango and Matthew Tkachuk — lost their stick in puck battles. Minten took advantage, picking up a loose puck and lifting it over Bobrovsky’s left pad from point-blank range.
With 3:21 left in the third, Greer was penalized for tripping, but Florida killed that penalty. Boston pulled Swayman for an extra attacker, and the Panthers also withstood that for the win.
–Field Level Media
