In Sunrise, one the nastiest games in a generation was iced on Tuesday night.
The visiting Boston Bruins and Panthers chose up sides and went medieval on each other.
“In three weeks, this goes to another level,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said, referring to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. “I liked the way our team kept competing. We battled for each other, we were in every battle. All five guys stuck together, and that’s what we need.”
Pavel Zacha hit for the game winner for Boston with 2:21 left on the game clock for the 4-3 final.
“It was an important win for us,” Zacha said. “We know that’s a really good team and it was like a playoff game. Winning those is really important to build [our] game moving forward.”
Jeremy Swayman made 19 saves in the win.
“This was special, a real momentum-builder for us,” Swayman said. “It prepares us for what to expect, the next nine games plus the playoffs. That’s a really good team and this gives us a boatload of confidence moving forward in what we need to do to prepare ourself for the playoffs.”
Boston improved to 42-16-15, took over first place in the Atlantic Division.
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead after the first 20 minutes of play.
Evan Rodrigues scored with just 27 seconds gone in the first for the 1-0 lead to the Panthers.
Boston replied on a strike by Charlie McAvoy at 17:43 to tie it, 1-1, scoring off a one-timer from the right side.
Florida took a 2-1 lead at 18:56 when Sam Reinhart pushed the panthers back in the lead with 64 seconds left in the period for a 2-1 advantage, scoring off a shot through dense traffic at the bet.
The Panthers dropped to 46-21-5.
“It was a really good hockey game, and you want to win it, especially when you get the lead like that,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “You want to close it out, but sometimes suffering a bit is good. Sometimes it’s good to put that much effort in and get nothing. I am not going to complain about the game. That was as good a game that we have been part of this year in terms of speed and physicality.”
In the middle frame, the Bruins replied again with a strike by David Pastrnak at 15:59 to tie the game, 2-2, scoring from in close.
In the third period, the Panthers once again took the lead, 3-2, on a marker from Carter Verhaeghe midway through the period. He finished an odd man rush for the goal.
“We lost the game and it’s frustrating, but it was good to get into a game like that,” Verhaeghe said. “It was intense, it was a hard-fought battle, but we obviously did this in New York (against the Rangers in a 4-3 shootout loss Saturday) where we had a one-goal lead (late in the third). We need to find a way to protect it. Good learning experience for us.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves in the loss.
“We battled hard, they battled hard and it was a tight game all the way through,” Barkov said. “We definitely can learn from this. We played the right way for most of the game.”
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