Garden Party: Boston Bruins 4, Florida Panthers 2

The Boston Bruins took a lead on the Florida Panthers early in the second period Tuesday and put the clamps on, holding the Panthers to 10 shots on goal for the final 35 minutes.

None of them went in.

The Bruins, still trying to chase down Tampa Bay for third in the Atlantic, pulled out a 4-2 victory over the Panthers at the Garden.

It was the second consecutive regulation loss for the Panthers who were trying to lock down the NHL Presidents’ Trophy with a win.

Florida fell behind 3-2 in the second period and the score stayed that way until Brad Marchand scored into an empty net with 3:05 left on the clock.

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The Panthers took the first lead of the night as Gus Forsling scored his seventh goal of the month at 8:02.

Forsling created his own chance, intercepting a clearing pass from Matt Grzelcyk and threw it up at the net.

Florida’s lead did not last, with the Bruins scoring twice within a span of six seconds.

With 3:42 left in the period, David Pastrnak fed it to Erik Haula on a 2-on-1 who beat Sergei Bobrovsky to it.

Literally, moments later, the Bruins won the ensuing faceoff and Taylor Hall broke through the defense after a MacKenzie Weegar turnover, walked in on Bobrovsky and scored.

Down 2-1, the Panthers got a late power play chance with Anthony Duclair getting slashed; Florida made a push with Sam Reinhart following up his own rebound off the post and beat the clock to tie the score.

Reinhart’s goal came with just .06 left.

One of the highlights of the first period came near the end when Joe Thornton — who was in the starting lineup in what could be his final game in Boston — got into it with Tomas Nosek in the corner.

Boston, which outshot the Panthers from the start of the game, made it 3-2 at 4:59 of the season on a rebound goal from Jake DeBrusk.

— The Panthers announced that rookie Anton Lundell (upper-body injury) and defenseman Radko Gudas (lower) would not return to the game.

Lundell left the game after sustaining a hit with 9:11 left in the second; Gudas left with 1:52 remaining in that period.

After the game, coach Andrew Brunette said the injuries were nothing more than “little tweaks” and the team was resting them out of precaution what with the playoffs starting next week.

GR’S THREE STARS OF THE GAME

1. Jake DeBrusk, Boston

2. David Pastrnak, Boston

3. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida

PANTHERS ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT OTTAWA SENATORS

• When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Canadian Tire Center, Ottawa  
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM/SiriusXM
• Last season: Did not play
• Season series — Tied 1-1-1: Ottawa 8, @Florida 2 (Dec. 14); @Florida 3, Ottawa 0 (March 3); Florida 3, @Ottawa 3 SO (March 26)
• All-time regular season series: Ottawa leads 56-42-5, ties