BOSTON – The Bruins and Florida Panthers both described it as a Game 7 setting prior to Tuesday night’s tilt, and it ended up living up to that level of intensity and effort.
Milan Lucic scored late in the third period when he carried a puck inside the blue line through the entire Florida defense, and buried a wrist shot past Roberto Luongo for a 3-2 regulation victory for the B’s at TD Garden.
The win extended their lead over Florida to six points with five games remaining for both teams, and essentially acts as death blow to the Panthers in their flickering playoff hopes.
The Bruins took a first period lead on Loui Eriksson’s impressive, patient backhanded shot waiting for Roberto Luongo to flop in the crease, and then lifting the backhanded bid past his outstretched glove hand. The goal was Eriksson’s 20th of the season, and makes him the third B’s player to hit the 20 goals plateau behind Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.
The B’s sagged in the second period as Florida ramped up their intensity, and Brandon Pirri tied it up on a scorched one-timer just 55 seconds into the second period after a Brad Marchand high-sticking penalty. The B’s took the lead later in the period when Matt Bartkowski couldn’t hold a puck in the offensive zone after a face-off win, and that led to a Brad Boyes partial breakaway wrist shot that somehow broke in past Tuukka Rask.
The Bruins tied it in the third period when David Pastrnak tipped a Ryan Spooner bid from the side boards past Roberto Luongo for more instant offense from the kid line. The important second score for the B’s set up the final outcome for Lucic’s clutch play late in the game for his 18th goal of the season.