In Boston Sunday night, the NHL was treated to a game that meant little to one team while the other played out the season with heart.
On Sunday, the Florida Panthers closed out their season, having been eliminated form the playoff race Saturday, with a solid a 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins.
The loss left the Bruins in second place in the Atlantic Division and will face the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Henrik Borgstrom, Frank Vatrano, Maxim Mamin and Evgenii Dadonov scored for the Panthers as they finished a wild final week with five wins.
“It just feels like character,” Panthers forward Jared McCann said. “We didn’t want to mail it in. We stuck with it.”
James Reimer made 33 saves as the started for the Panthers but left midway through the third period with an injury; Roberto Luongo finished up with eight saves.
“Yeah, we are extremely proud of this group, the effort they put forward, especially in the second half of the season,” Panthers head coach Bob Boughner said. “The message after the game from me to them was remember how bittersweet this feeling is. … We will go home, relax, work out hard, and get back here and try to pick up where we left off tonight.”
David Backes and David Pastrnak scored for Boston.
“We had a good third, obviously. But obviously, not the outcome we would’ve liked,” Bruins forward Brad Marchand said. “But the game is over, and we’ll move on to the playoffs. We’re in a good spot still. We’re in the postseason, so that’s what you play for all year, a chance to be here, and look forward to the first game.”
The Bruins finished the season on a 1-3-1 stretch.
“I just felt that coming down the stretch here, you could start to see us mentally get tired,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I think we’re losing some of our passion, and that showed in the first period, that’s what we were missing. And then the execution crept in and … when we wanted to get the game back we did it more as individuals instead of a team. And then in the third, we started playing together, but then it’s too late, we’re chasing the game.”
[WATCH:Â All Panthers vs. Bruins highlights]
Tuukka Rask made 22 saves in the loss.
“I believe we’ll be the 50-win team that we saw all year. We’re not going to allow one game to define us. We understand that meaning, we let one get away, an opportunity lost to have home-ice advantage. And we’ll see if that haunts us down the road, it’s too early to tell that yet,” Cassidy said.
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