Bruins survive late goal, beat Panthers in OT, 4-3

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Jan 11, 2025

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

David Pastrnak failed on several attempts to end the Bruins' six-game losing streak, but with two seconds left in overtime, he finally got the job done.

He got some help, too.

After the B’s coughed up a late lead to extend the game to OT, Sam Bennett high-sticked Charlie McAvoy with 1:42 left and, on the power play, the B’s won it — barely. With time running out, Pastrnak attempted a cross-ice pass that went off Sam Reinhart’s stick and beat Sergei Bobrovsky, giving the B’s a much-needed 4-3 victory in Sunrise, Fla.

Jeremy Swayman made 39 saves, snapping a five-game personal losing streak, but it looked like he might end up as a hard-luck loser.

With time running out, Pastrnak — at the end of brutally long shift — nearly ended it with an empty-net goal but his flip shot from behind the red line hit the post and came back to the B’s zone on an icing.

And with 1.8 seconds left, Jordan Oesterle missed an aerial puck and it floated into the net for the stake-to-the-heart equalizer, Sam Reinhart’s second of the game.

The B’s survived in OT but, to be fair, the better team didn’t win.

The Panthers dominated the first period from the opening puck drop, hemming the B’s in their end for much of the first four minutes of the game and they would outshoot them 14-6 in the period.

But it was the B’s who took the first lead of the game and in the most unusual way for them — on the power play.

The B’s got their chance when, in a rare foray into the Florida end, Anton Lundell tripped Trent Frederic. The PP wasn’t exactly a by-the-book beauty — coach Joe Sacco later told ABC it was a little “scruffy” — but a simple play got them a lead at 6:02. Mason Lohrei just threw the puck toward the net. It got through to Morgan Geekie, who lifted a pretty backhander over Sergei Bobrovsky’s shoulder and the B’s snapped an 0-for-14 skid on the PP.

But the B’s could not get out of the first with a lead. After a second ugly B’s power play, the Panthers got one of their own when Lohrei held Eetu Luostarinen in the neutral. The B’s actually did a good job of killing it off but, just as Lohrei was stepping on the ice, the Panthers evened it up at 15:30. Evan Rodrigues got behind Nikita Zadorov, gathered a rebound off an Uvis Balinskis shot and slipped the puck under Swayman’s arm to make it 1-1.

The second period saw more of the same Panther territorial dominance, this time outshooting the B’s 14-4. But one of those four shots found the back of the Panther net late in the period.

The B’s got a PP midway through the period when A.J. Greer tried to disturb things. He clipped McAvoy on his way to the net and then tried to get McAvoy off the ice for five minutes. Lohrei stepped in, but that was not a good match for the Bruin, so Frederic jumped in and took a couple of bare knuckle shots from Greer. Both were sent off and Greer got the extra two. The B’s got one good chance on the advantage, but that’s it.

The B’s had started the second on the penalty kill after a late Geekie slashing penalty. They killed that minute, and they had to kill a later crosschecking penalty on Andrew Peeke, who appeared to be retaliating for some Luostarinen stick work. Classic Panther work there, but they couldn’t cash in.

And shortly after Peeke was freed, the B’s regained the lead. It started with Frederic winning the puck on forecheck and dishing to Geekie. From the left corner, Geekie sent a perfect pass to Pastrnak for his 18th of the year, a tap-in at 16:11.

The B’s quickly coughed up the lead in the third, then almost as quickly regained it.

First, Reinhart evened it up just 43 seconds into the period. With the B’s defensemen Peeke and Zadorov backing up and the backcheckers just behind the play, Sasha Barkov sent cross-pass to Reinhart for a too-easy tap-in.

But the B’s reclaimed the lead at 2:06 on a good grinding shift from the third line. McAvoy jumped up to join the play and his offering was blocked in front. The loose puck came right to Oliver Wahlstrom, who swept home his first goal and point as a Bruin in his 10th game.

The B’s had chances to put the game away. Lohrei hit the post at the end of a power play and then, with 8:20 left in regulation, Bobrovsky stoned Pastrnak twice, first one a breakaway and then on a 2-on-1.