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