Aleksander Barkov’s stunning individual effort snapped a third period tie and lifted the Florida Panthers to an impressive 3-2 comeback victory over the Boston Bruins in Game 4 at TD Garden.
Despite continuing to outplay the Bruins, the Panthers found themselves in a two-goal hole after the first period.
David Pastrnak teed off on Jake DeBrusk’s pass from below the goal line eight seconds after Aaron Ekblad got called for an interference minor. The goal came at the 8:53 mark with the secondary assist going to James van Riemsdyk.
At 15:12, Brandon Carlo snapped off a routine-looking shot from the blue line that dipped and eluded Sergei Bobrovksy to double Boston’s lead. The puck came to Carlo after Evan Rodrigues’ pass caught Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the skates.
Florida would pull one back in the latter stages of one of the more evenly played periods of the series when Anton Lundell got the Panthers on the board at 14:48 by one-timing Rodrigues’ return pass from the behind the net after an Ekblad dump-in. Fantastic short-side snipe by Lundell, which surprised Swayman and the rest of the Bruin faithful.
If he wasn’t already the most hated man in Boston, Sam Bennett drew even more ire when he nudged Charlie Coyle out of the way to pot a loose puck 3:41 into the third with Hampus Lindholm off for interference. Lost in the ensuing controversy was an absolutely unreal play by Lundell, who levitated Rodrigues’ bumpy backhand pass into the air and then cracked a shot off that required a big pad save from Swayman, creating the rebound for the opportunistic Bennett.
Barkov would pull one straight from the Super Mario playbook to put the Panthers on top 3:50 later. After barely holding the puck in at the blue line, Barkov wove his way through a trio of Bruins before shoveling the puck past Swayman while being tripped by Mason Lohrei. The assists on the game-winner went to Kyle Okposo and Vladimir Tarasenko. Props to Okposo for going to the net to help open the path for Barkov ever so slightly.
Bobrovsky and the Panthers would not yield the equalizer, killing a tripping call on Gustav Forsling and then shrugging off another Ekblad interference call with 37 seconds left on the clock to win at TD Garden for the fifth straight time in the playoffs. The series will return to Sunrise on Tuesday. Florida is 3-0 in their history when leading a best-of-7 series 3-1. The Bruins are 0-25 when trailing 3-1. I like the sound of that. I like it a lot…
Tea & Honey
- First Star Aleksander Barkov has produced at least a point in all four games of the series. The captain has amassed three goals, five assists and two game-winners to help put the Bruins on the brink of elimination. Last night’s goal was his 50th career playoff point.
- The Panthers do not come back and win that game without the efforts of Anton Lundell, who got his club on the board and magically created Sam Bennett’s goal. As beautiful as Barkov’s marker was, Lundell should’ve been named the game’s First Star.
- Despite taking two penalties, Aaron Ekblad had another strong game, finishing with an assist, a team-high seven hits, and a plus-two rating. The Cats led 21-6 in 5-on-5 scoring chances when Ekblad was on the ice.
- Jeremy Swayman came up with 38 saves, but it wasn’t enough to keep his offensively-challenged team ahead. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 of 18 shots, including five high-danger chances, to up his record to 7-2.
- With the game on the line, the Panthers scored twice while outshooting the Bruins 13-2 in the third period.