Bruins 6, Panthers 2: B’s take control in a crucial Game 4 victory

After a chippy win in Game 3, Jim Montgomery and the Boston Bruins knew the Panthers would throw everything they had at them. Without Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci still, the same lineup that won Boston Game 3 would need to survive another storm from Florida, despite the Panthers losing Aaron Ekblad. The first 10 minutes looked exactly like that, as the Panthers literally threw every puck they had at Linus Ullmark and smothered Boston offensively. However, in rapid succession, the Bruins first shot, the Bruins first power play, the Bruins strike first. The Bruins didn’t look back from there. Another strong, detail-oriented game, not biting into what the Panthers were scratching (for the most part), and a smart Bruins victory as the series heads back to Boston.

First Period

The B’s had a very quiet start to the game and needed Linus Ullmark to bail them out a number of times. How’s this for laying it all out?

Despite the very sluggish start for Boston, it was Brad Marchand who struck first! On the power play, Marchand finds the puck loose underneath Sergei Bobrovsky in a sea of humanity around the net and pokes it to the back of the net, making it 1-0 Bruins!

Second Period

The Bruins would start the middle frame on the man advantage and Jake DeBrusk was sure to take advantage! Tic-tac-goal, Taylor Hall to Dmitry Orlov to Jake DeBrusk on the net-front drive and deflection, and it’s 2-0 B’s!

Matt Tkachuk would cut into the lead, as a puck got stuck on the side of the net, and Tkachuk was right there to put it between his legs and past Ullmark. 2-1, late in the second.

Third Period

It was clear that whoever scored first would make the biggest impact on how the final frame would go, and it was Tyler Bertuzzi! Brandon Carlo threw a shot on net that Bertuzzi made a slick deflection on to bounce the puck past Bobrovsky and make it 3-1, Bruins!

The Panthers would claw back, as Sam Bennett finished one after Florida threw everything at Linus Ullmark, now a 3-2 game. That would end the Bruins’ perfect penalty-killing streak to start the playoffs.

Even still, these Bruins have no quit! Pavel Zacha took a Grade-A shot wide open in the slot, and Jake DeBrusk was net-front to slam home the rebound; it’s a 4-2 Bruins lead!

Taylor Hall would put this game to bed with a gorgeous breakaway, 5-2 Bruins with just three and a half to go.

We won’t forget his empty netter too!

Final score: Bruins 6, Panthers 2. Boston takes a 3-1 series lead!

Game Notes

• Jake DeBrusk and Taylor Hall each netted two goals today, showing the Bruins are still scoring from everywhere.
• Don Sweeney’s Trade Deadline acquisitions continue to pay off. Another goal for Bertuzzi plus an assist, another assist from Orlov, and eight hits from Hathaway to lead the team today.
• The power play did something! 2-for-4 and showing signs of life.
• As tilted as the faceoff numbers were against the Bruins in Game 3, they were in favor of the B’s in Game 4: centers were successful 64% of the time, including Charlie Coyle going 15-for-19 (79%) and Tomas Nosek going 14-18 (78%).
• Linus Ullmark(!) gets tossed at the tail end of this one after dropping his gloves! Granted Matt Tkachuk did his rat things and want to muck it up with him only seconds earlier before Brandon Carlo and Derek Forbort swallowed him up, but then Tkachuk gets back in Ullmark’s grill, and the Ice Bear Dude simply won’t have it.

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Boston, 7 pm EDT puck drop. We’ll be here!

Check out the post-game podcast recap here: