SUNRISE – (Wire Service Report) – Florida goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves to lead the host Panthers to a 2-1 win over the Bruins on Thursday night in South Florida. 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.

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SUNRISE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Last season, the Boston Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2015-2016. They also traded away long-time star Brad Marchand to Florida and watched him win a Stanley Cup title with the Panthers.

That was rough.

This season, however, the Bruins (43-24-8, 94 points) are currently the top wild-card team in the Eastern Conference, and they are closing in on a return to the playoffs.

On Thursday night, the Bruins will visit — ironically — the Panthers in South Florida and it’s amazing how the proverbial tables have turned.

The Panthers, the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions, are 36-35-3 (75 points), which puts them in next-to-last place in the East. In fact, they are on the verge of being officially eliminated from playoff contention, possibly this week.

Marchand, meanwhile, hasn’t played since March 6 due to a lower-body injury, and his Panthers have lost six of their past nine games.

Even so, the Panthers won’t go down without a fight, and they proved that on Tuesday with a 6-3 home win over Ottawa. The Panthers led that game,  5-0, after the first period.

“We got a couple of goals, and, all of a sudden, we had juice and energy,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We haven’t had a lot of fun nights in the past month so this ignited our bench. We’re playing for that good feeling.”

But the problem for the Panthers all season has been injuries, and that issue came up again on Tuesday as defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Dmitry Kulikov went down. Ekblad took a puck to the hand, and Kulikov was hit by a puck in the face.

Counting those two, there are now a dozen players on Florida’s injured list as compared to just one for Boston.

Maurice, with gallows humor, joked that there was “a line at the X-ray machine” in order to check for broken bones.

Ironically, Ekblad on Thursday would’ve broken Aleksander Barkov’s record for most games played in a Panthers uniform with 805. But Maurice admitted on Tuesday when asked about Ekblad’s injury, “I don’t think it looks great.”

As for the Bruins, they won their fourth straight game on Tuesday, defeating visiting Dallas 6-3.

Boston’s Viktor Arvidsson recorded his fifth NHL hat trick and his first since March 4, 2022.

“It was three easy ones,” Arvidsson said. “One was two inches from the goal, and the other two were empty-netters.”

David Pastrnak leads Boston in assists (66) and points (95). His previous career high for assists was 63, and he is closing in on what would be his fourth straight 100-point season.

Morgan Geekie leads Boston with 34 goals and ranks second in points (63). And Pavel Zacha ranks third on the Bruins with a career-high 60 points.

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BUFFALO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s David Pastrnak opened the scoring, then recorded his second assist on Pavel Zacha’s overtime goal as the visiting Boston Bruins rallied to cool off the Buffalo Sabres with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday.

On the rush, Pastrnak pulled back then sent a pass to Zacha, who beat Buffalo goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (27 saves) 38 seconds into overtime for his ninth goal in March.

Boston (40-24-8, 88 points) trailed 3-2 when with six minutes remaining in regulation, former Sabre Casey Mittelstadt converted via a friendly carom from the end board of teammate Jonathan Aspirot’s shot and off the skate of Luukkonen.

Trying to better its playoff position in the Eastern Conference, Boston pushed its road point streak to six games (3-0-3).

Atlantic Division-leading Buffalo (44-20-8, 96 points), 33-7-4 since Dec. 9, trailed 2-1 after two periods and found itself killing a penalty early in the third.
Just after that Boston power play ended, Zach Benson took the puck from the Bruins’ Mason Lohrei, broke into the zone and got it past Joonas Korpisalo (22 saves) while crashing the net to tie the game 5:54 into the third.

Lohrei was whistled for cross-checking at the end of the play and the Sabres made him and the Bruins pay. Just 33 seconds later, Tage Thompson sent a pass from behind the net for Jason Zucker to chip in for his second goal of the night.

Boston opened the scoring with 8:53 remaining in the first period. Camped out at the bottom of the circle, Pastrnak successfully one-timed Fraser Minten pinpoint pass from behind the Buffalo net.

Buffalo equalized with 4:42 left before the initial intermission. On the power play, Thompson sent the puck between the legs of Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm and onto the stick of Zucker to beat Korpisalo.

After tripping himself up on a potential breakaway earlier in the second period, Pastrnak had a hand in giving Boston the lead back with near the midway point of the frame.

Luukkonen was able to poke-check the puck away from a net-front Pastrnak, but it was backhanded in by a trailing Viktor Arvidsson.

–Field Level Media

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NASHVILLE – (Wire Service Report) – Less than 24 hours before the NHL trade deadline, the Boston Bruins take their playoff-chasing show on the road to close out the season series with the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Boston is on an 11-game home win streak, but treks to Nashville having won only two road games this calendar year and need to break a five-game road skid (0-2-3). Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins gave the Bruins a three-point lead for the final Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot.

The Bruins’ latest victory came in come-from-behind fashion, as Marat Khusnutdinov and Casey Mittelstadt scored within a 50-second span in the first period to erase an early deficit.

Jeremy Swayman continued standing tall, making 34 saves.

“We’ve got to be comfortable in these kinds of tight games, especially down this playoff push,” Swayman said.

Coach Marco Sturm hopes that his Bruins can carry that type of effort and attitude to the road, where they will play 13 of their final 22 regular-season games.

“We feel very comfortable, very confident at home. Even down a goal, no problem,” Sturm said. “Sometimes, it feels a little different on the road. When the other team scores, the crowd gets into it and now we have to react. … We have to get better on the road.”

Thursday marks the Predators’ third  game in four nights, their first since dropping both ends of a back-to-back. Their most recent game was a 3-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, who are currently the first team outside the playoff cutoff in the East.

Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly lit the lamp to give Nashville a 2-1 lead after two periods before Columbus used a two-goal final frame to gain the upper hand.

Tuesday was difficult on more than just the scoreboard, though, as two Predators forwards were traded. Michael McCarron — an “amazing teammate” and “one of those glue guys,” as captain Roman Josi described him — was dealt to the Minnesota Wild during the game, while Cole Smith went to the Vegas Golden Knights after the game concluded.

“We’re going to miss two great people, two big parts of our culture in what they bring every day,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “… Sad to see them go, but at the same time, hoping for the best. They’re going to go to places that have a good opportunity to have a long run, further their career, but we’re going to miss them.”

In the midst of a playoff race, the Predators have little time to dwell.

Now five points back of the West’s final playoff spot, Nashville is 1-2-1 since returning from the Olympic break and has scored more than two goals in only one of its last five games.

“We’ve got to move on,” Josi said. “Obviously, it’s not an easy time for a lot of guys, but all we can control is our play. You have to accept the business side. It’s part of it and it’s not fun, but all we can do as players is to play and hopefully get some wins.”

O’Reilly left Tuesday’s game after taking a stick to the eye during a faceoff, but there has been no update on his status.

The Bruins won 3-2 in overtime when the teams played Jan. 27 in Boston. David Pastrnak scored the game-winning goal.

–Field Level Media

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SUNRISE – (Wire Service Report) – Anton Lundell came off the injured list and provided one goal and two assists in regulation and also scored in the shootout as the host Florida Panthers defeated the Boston Bruins, 5-4, on Wednesday night in South Florida.

Brad Marchand also scored in the four-round shootout. Victor Arvidsson scored for Boston.

The Panthers, who snapped a season-high-tying four-game losing streak, also got two other players back from the injured list: Marchand and Sam Bennett.

Other prominent Panthers still injured are center Aleksander Barkov and defensemen Seth Jones and Dmitry Kulikov.

The Panthers also got goals from Eetu Luostarinen, Uvis Balinskis and Matthew Tkachuk. Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves for his first win since Jan. 24.

Boston, playing its final game before its Olympic break, got two goals from Michael Eyssimont. Prior to Wednesday, he had scored just once since Nov. 17. The Bruins also got one goal each from Mark Kastelic and Casey Mittelstadt.

Joonas Korpisalo added 22 saves as the Bruins lost consecutive games for the first time this calendar year.

Bennett appeared to open the scoring just 84 seconds in, but the goal was wiped out on review due to offsides.

The Panthers made it 1-0 — for real this time — as Boston’s Morgan Geekie fanned on a clearing attempt, and that led directly to Luostarinen scoring from the right circle.

However, Boston closed the first period with a 2-1 lead as Eyssimont scored with 12:42 left and again with 7:17 remaining.

On the first goal, Alex Steeves earned the primary assist as he won a puck battle and made a blind pass to Eyssimont, who was in alone on Bobrovsky. On the second one, Eyssimont scored on another breakaway, faking out Bobrovsky before stuffing the puck just inside the right post.

Florida took a 4-2 lead in the second period, scoring twice on its power play and once short-handed.

First, Tkachuk, operating from behind the goal line, tossed a pass to Balinskis, who scored from the slot. Then, less than three minutes later, Florida struck again as Tkachuk made two more great passes before scoring himself, banking the puck in off the back of Korpisalo.

Both times, the Panthers scored within the first 30 seconds with the man advantage.

Florida then added a short-handed goal as Sam Reinhart came up with a steal and then put the puck on Lundell’s stick for a tap-in tally.

However, Boston tied the score 4-4 with third-period goals by Kastelic and then Mittelstadt. First, Kastelic scored on a deflection off a pass from Charlie McAvoy. Then, with 9:30 left in the third, Mittelstadt scored on a rebound, just nine seconds into Boston’s sixth power play of the night.

–Field Level Media

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Zdeno Chara’s No. 33 is retired to the TD Garden rafters on Thursday night, the Boston Bruins will look to complete a five-game sweep of their homestand when they host the Seattle Kraken. Bruins’ goalkeepers have pitched back-to-back shutouts — one behind both Joonas Korpisalo and Jeremy Swayman — and allowed just three total goals in the four games since losing 7-4 in Seattle on Jan. 6.

“Best stat ever,” Swayman said of the defensive performance that has highlighted the recent unbeaten leg of the team’s 6-1-0 run.

Boston’s latest win on Tuesday was a big one. Pavel Zacha scored the deciding goal and Swayman made 24 saves in a 3-0 shutout of the Detroit Red Wings, who entered the week leading the Atlantic Division.

“I think it was one of the most complete games we’ve played all year long, 5-on-5,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said. “Those are the games we have to take advantage of a little bit (against a team on a back-to-back). We’ve had a couple recently. I think (Thursday) will be another one.”

While Zacha’s second-period goal stood tall, the Bruins dominated in the third, outshooting Detroit 16-2 and getting scoring from Fraser Minten and Mark Kastelic.

Zacha has points in four of his last five games, including a hat trick with the game-winner in Boston’s 10-2 Saturday win over the New York Rangers. Viktor Arvidsson, who has played on Zacha’s wing of late, is on a five-game point streak.

But focusing on the back end has been key to the stretch.

“I think that’s one of the things from the start of the season we really pride ourselves on — being good defensively, playing these close games and being able to win them,” Zacha said.

Tuesday also marked Boston’s fourth straight game committing just two penalties after a whopping 30 calls in the prior six.

Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm inched closer to returning from injured reserve as he skated in a non-contact jersey on Wednesday.

Seattle visits Boston for the fourth contest of a five-game road trip (1-1-1), heading north following its 3-2 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.

The Kraken’s win over Boston last week also came in the second game of a back-to-back and was part of a 10-game point streak (8-0-2). They are just 1-1-2 since that game.

Jordan McCann had a goal and an assist, former Devils defenseman Adam Larsson also scored, and Vince Dunn helped on both goals against New Jersey.

“I thought we played slow hockey. Prior to the game, we said we were gonna have to play fast,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “I didn’t think we were sharp, and part of being sharp is you play with some speed.”

The effort improved despite a scoreless third period, but New Jersey dominated possession in the extra session.

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SEATTLE – Seattle’s Berkly Catton scored the first two goals of his NHL career as the Seattle Kraken torched the visiting Boston Bruins 7-4 on Tuesday night.

Kaapo Kakko had two goals and an assist, Jared McCann had one of each, Jordan Eberle and Ben Meyers also scored, and Matty Beniers, Vince Dunn and Freddy Gaudreau had two assists apiece for the Kraken, who extended their point streak to nine games (8-0-1). Goaltender Joey Daccord made 32 saves.

David Pastrnak tallied twice, Viktor Arvidsson had a goal and an assist, and Mason Lohrei also scored for the Bruins, who wrapped up a five-game trip in which they went 2-2-1. Jeremy Swayman stopped 20 of 26 shots as Boston saw a two-game winning streak and a three-game point streak snapped.

The 19-year-old Catton was the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and was playing in his 28th game, broke a 1-all tie at 2:48 of the second period. Catton carried the puck over the blue line on the right wing and sent a drop pass to McCann, who immediately passed back to the rookie. Catton’s slap shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle deflected off the heel of Swayman’s blocker and into the net.

Catton scored his second on the power play at 14:20 of the third to make it 6-2. He took a pass from Gaudreau, broke in alone on Swayman and lifted a backhander off the right post and just under the crossbar.

The teams traded goals in the first period.

Seattle struck first at 8:50 as Eberle tallied on a 5-on-3 power play.

Pastrnak tied it at 12:47, faking a slap shot and putting a wrister into the upper-right corner of the net.

After Catton gave Seattle the lead, Pastrnak tied it a second time off a nifty backhanded cross-ice pass from Charlie McAvoy.

The Kraken regained the lead at 18:23 as Tye Kartye, back in the lineup with Eeli Tolvanen a late scratch because of illness, stole the puck behind the Boston net and sent a backhanded pass to Meyers for a one-timer from the slot.

The Kraken extended their lead to 4-2 on a buzzer-beating slap shot from the right point by McCann on the power play. A video review determined the puck entered the net with 0.5 seconds left in the second period.

The teams combined for five goals in the final half of the third period.

Kakko tallied at 10:21, followed by Catton.

Lohrei scored off a scramble in front of the net at 14:50 and Arvidsson on a power play at 17:38 to pull the Bruins within 6-4.

Kakko fired the puck into an empty net at 19:48 to cap the scoring.

–Field Level Media

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – With injuries leading to often-changing lineups for Boston, one thing has stayed the same: The Bruins have earned to very few easy wins this season. In fact, a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday was just their second by more than two goals.

Now, the Bruins turn the page to a matchup with the visiting New Jersey Devils, with Boston looking to post its first back-to-back triumphs since completing a seven-game winning streak nearly a month ago.

“Maybe we slip a little bit sometimes after one win or a few wins, so we’ve got to keep that consistency better and have a higher low point than we have right now,” said Boston forward Viktor Arvidsson, who recorded his 400th career point on Thursday.

Boston score twice in the first period against St. Louis before breaking open a 2-1 game with a three-goal middle frame in which Pavel Zacha netted the final two tallies. Joonas Korpisalo made a season-high 37 saves.

Boston forward Alex Steeves has stepped up in the absence of star David Pastrnak, who has missed four consecutive games due to an undisclosed injury and remains day-to-day.

Steeves tallied the game-opening goal against the Blues, his fifth goal in five games as he temporarily plays alongside Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie on the top line. The New Hampshire native did not play in his first NHL game until Nov. 8 this season, working on his game with AHL Providence to earn a recall.

“A lot of guys say it. But to Steeves’ credit, a lot of guys don’t do it,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said. “He didn’t like to go down (after training camp), but I also remember he said, ‘I will be back.’ … The way he said it, I believed him. I knew his time would come.”

Friday also marked Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy’s second day skating in a non-contact jersey after taking a shot to the face on Nov. 15.

New Jersey hits the road to complete a back-to-back set and looks to change its luck after being swept in a four-game homestand. The Devils took their second straight shutout loss and third this season in a 3-0 setback against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.

Prior to the recent skid that dropped them out of a playoff position in the ultra-tight Eastern Conference, the Devils were 9-0-1 on home ice this season. They are 7-7-0 on the road.

“We need everybody on board,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “We have our foundation, and it starts with just competing. We’ve also got to find a way to score goals. Without scoring goals, you aren’t winning. … We have to simplify our game and get a dirty win.”

New Jersey was right in it on Friday, trailing just 1-0 after two periods before Vegas padded its lead with a pair of power-play tallies late in the third.

Devils coach Sheldon Keefe searched for answers in another late-game situation, moving his top line to feature Hischier centering Ondrej Palat and Jesper Bratt.

Another change to the forward lineup came in the form of Angus Crookshank, who was recalled from AHL Utica and made his Devils debut on Friday. He had an even rating in 10:36 of ice time.

“He skates hard and shoots the puck extremely well,” Keefe said. “We think if he can get a scoring chance, he can shoot it in the net. We’re just trying to give him a chance.”

Crookshank had five goals in 17 AHL games at the time of his call-up. The first 21 games of his NHL career were with the Ottawa Senators over the past two seasons.

–Field Level Media

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Preview) – After their Thanksgiving dinner tasted even better on the heels of Wednesday victories, the Boston Bruins will host the New York Rangers in their first meeting of the season on Friday afternoon.

The Bruins just spent 10 days completing a four-game road trip that spanned from California to New York, ending it on a high note with a 3-1 win over the Islanders on Wednesday. Friday will mark Boston’s first skate on home ice since Nov. 17, and another will follow against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night to complete a back-to-back.

“We came into the trip wanting to at least be .500 on it, and felt like we left some points in California in a couple of those games,” Bruins forward Tanner Jeannot said. “We knew we wanted to come out and play (Wednesday’s) game really hard, finish off the road trip and head back home for Thanksgiving. The boys battled hard.”

Alex Steeves, who played on a new-look fourth line with Sean Kuraly and Mikey Eyssimont, recorded the first two-goal performance of his NHL career. Jeannot scored the eventual game-winner in the second period in between Steeves’ tallies, the latter of which came on a short-handed rush with 9:39 left in regulation.

“I’m not thinking I’m David Pastrnak or anything all of a sudden, but it definitely gives me confidence,” Steeves said.

Fraser Minten also played a key role in Boston’s latest victory, providing the only assist on both the tying and winning goals.

Goaltender Jeremy Swayman could be in line for his fourth consecutive start after making a career-high 44 saves against the Islanders. He is 7-2-0 with a .935 save percentage across his last nine starts, giving first-year coach Marco Sturm an easy decision of late.

“That’s why he was back in,” said Sturm, whose team was outshot 45-14. “We had that feeling (before the game) that we can’t get him out of the net because he’s playing that well — and he showed it. How calm he was, that gives us, I would say, a little bit of extra juice. We don’t have to worry about what’s behind us.”

The Rangers have followed up a four-game skid with back-to-back wins — including a 4-2 road win against their Metropolitan Division rival Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday — to move above the .500 mark at 12-11-2.

“We’re playing with more structure,” New York coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think we’re playing with better intentions. We’ve got numbers back. I think that’s the game that’s going to give us the best chance to win.”

In an unusual trend, the Rangers are 10-4-1 on the road and just 2-7-1 at Madison Square Garden, where they will return for a Saturday date with the Tampa Bay Lightning. They had just one road loss on the season prior to the recent skid.

A pair of third-period goals proved to be the difference in Wednesday’s game for the Rangers, who were at a 38-18 disadvantage in shots and withstood five Carolina power plays.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, while Vincent Trocheck scored the deciding goal 45 seconds into the final frame. Those efforts helped make a winner out of Igor Shesterkin (36 saves).

“I don’t think we were at our best, but we found a way to win and I thought the third was our best period,” New York captain J.T. Miller said. “It’s funny, you go through the first 15 games of the year, how many games we thought we should have won. This is one of those that hopefully can help even some of those out.”

–Field Level Media

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David Pastrnak, Michael Eyssimont and Elias Lindholm recorded a goal and an assist apiece while Fraser Minten and Morgan Geekie also scored for Boston, which has won two of its last three games.

Eyssimont scored the game-winning goal at 7:48 of the second.

Geekie has lit the lamp in five consecutive games.

Boston’s Charlie McAvoy added two assists and Joonas Korpisalo made 33 saves, stopped all 15 shots he faced in the third period.

Bo Horvat had a goal and an assist, Kyle Palmieri also scored and Ilya Sorokin turned aside 17 shots for Islanders, who took their first regulation loss in a six-game span (4-1-1).

New York had a 35-22 shots advantage. Boston went 2-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

The Islanders buried their first shot just 1:08 into the game. After Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm’s slap shot sailed high and wide, Jonathan Drouin started a rush the other way and dropped a pass to Horvat, who netted a wrister past Korpisalo’s blocker.

Palmieri converted on an extended delayed penalty to double the Islanders’ lead at 4:52, burying Mathew Barzal’s perfect cross-ice pass through the crease into an open side of the net.

The Bruins did not record a shot over the final 9:45 of the first, but turned the tables with a busy second.

Elias Lindholm got Boston on the board 3:57 into the middle frame, taking Pavel Zacha’s feed into the right circle for a one-time goal on the power play.

At 6:49, Pastrnak made it a one-goal game when he finished off Hampus Lindholm’s slap pass with a wrist shot from the right side.

Just 59 seconds later, Eyssimont flipped the score in the Bruins’ favor when his skate deflected McAvoy’s shot to the far post.

Korpisalo kept Boston ahead entering the second intermission, making back-to-back saves on a Horvat partial break with under 4:00 to play before backstopping a kill after Hampus Lindholm’s double-minor high-sticking penalty kill.

Following the Bruins’ second consecutive kill, Geekie made it 4-2 when he blasted a one-timer from the top of the left circle at 5:48 of the third. McAvoy set up the man-advantage tally.

After several key Korpisalo saves insured Boston’s lead, Eyssimont made a steal at the defensive blue line and sprung Minten for an empty-net tally with 3:23 left.

Boston defenseman Jonathan Aspirot played 14:16 in his NHL debut.

–Field Level Media

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