SUNRISE, Fla. — The Bruins put a stranglehold on their first-round series with the Florida Panthers on Sunday, taking a 6-2 decision at Florida Live Arena and pushing their series lead to 3-1.
They can finish off the Cats in Game 5 on Wednesday at the Garden.
The B’s got a pair of goals from Jake DeBrusk and a four-point afternoon from Taylor Hall to seize control of the series.
After the Panthers cut into the B’s two-goal lead late in the second period, Tyler Bertuzzi got it right back when he deflected a Brandon Carlo shot out high and it squeaked through Sergei Bobrovsky’s pads at to make it 3-1 at 2:26 of the third.
But after Nick Foligno took an offensive zone penalty, the B’s were under siege on the kill and, on the seventh shot of the PP, Sam Bennett scored on a rebound at 6:11.
The B’s, however, pushed it back to a two-goal lead at 8:05. Marc Staal turned it over at his blue to Taylor Hall, who fed Pavel Zacha in the high slot. Bobrovsky stopped Zacha’s shot, but Jake DeBrusk scored his second goal of the game on the rebound.
Hall then finished it off with a breakaway goal with 3:36 remaining and, finally, an empty-netter.
Things got wild with 3:11 left when Matthew Tkachuk got into a battle with Linus Ullmark and melee ensued. Ullmark threw off his glove, blocker and mask and was ready to go with Tkachuk, but it never got to that point. Ullmark was tagged with a misconduct and had to leave the game.
Down in the series 2-1, the Panthers came out strong in the first period, forcing the B’s into turnovers in their breakout attempts and outshooting the B’s 10-0 to start.
But not only did the B’s get their first shot on net at the 9:11 mark, Taylor Hall got the B’s their first power play when at the end of the play, Colin White crosschecked Hall from behind. It got the B’s into the game and, soon, on the scoreboard.
Bobrovsky, making his first start of the series after coming on in relief of Alex Lyon in Game 3, made a terrific save on a Bertuzzi one-timer from the right side. It bounced straight into the slot and Pavel Zacha shot it right back at Bobrovsky. With the puck still alive, Brad Marchand poked it home under Bobrovsky. It was initially waved off by the ref behind the net but, after a conference with the other officials, it was ruled a good goal, Marchand’s third of the series.
The B’s had another PP opportunity shortly after that and didn’t cash in. They also briefly lost DeBrusk, who took a Hall aerial pass to the side of the head.
They got another power play to start the second period when, at the end of the first, Tkachuk crosschecked Garnet Hathaway from behind. Hathaway needed some medical attention on the ice but he left under his own power.
Both Hathaway and DeBrusk returned for the second period, and it was DeBrusk who made Tkachuk and the Panthers pay for the transgression. In the final seconds of the PP, Dmitry Orlov made a beautiful pass down low to DeBrusk, who redirected past Bobrovsky for the 2-0 lead.
The game got sleepy for much of the second period, with a lot of whistles taking away any flow to it. And with the crowd – at least the portion of it rooting for the Panthers – very quiet, Florida finally got on he board with a fluky goal with 4:00 remaining in the period.
The Panthers played the puck behind the net and Ullmark moved to his right to follow the puck. But Carter Verhaege stopped it behind the net and it got caught up on the left side of the cage. With the goalie covering the right post, Tkachuk was able to get the puck and shoot it between his legs into the open side of the cage to get the Panthers to within a goal going into the third period.
