Florida Panthers
Florida Panthers Let a Point Slip Away with OT Loss in Boston

In past years, the Florida Panthers would have been happy with leaving the Garden with a point against a red-hot Boston team.
Not this year.
Not anymore.
In a highly-anticipated rematch of their first-round series, the Panthers jumped out to a quick two-goal lead in dominant fashion.
Only the Bruins clawed their way back and pulled out a 3-2 victory in overtime thanks to a Pavel Zacha shot off the rush.
โIt was a tough building we were going into today, so weโll take one,โ Florida captain Sasha Barkov said.
โBut of course, we wanted two and we are not happy with just one.โ
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Zachaโs overtime goal tells the story of the game.
The Panthers had possession of the puck for the majority of the overtime period, hemming the Bruins into their own zone and generating multiple quality chances.
Only Zacha picked up the errant bounce of a missed shot by Evan Rodrigues and scored on the ensuing rush to give Boston the win.
All told, Florida led 34-24 in scoring chances, 13-11 in high-danger chances and 38-26 in shots on goal.
But after the first period, they could not convert when it mattered and it ended up costing them.
โOur first period was outstanding, but we just have to learn how to keep going and play the same way when we start the right way,โ Barkov said.
โItโs been happening all season. We have good periods and bad periods, and obviously, itโs early in the season, but we want to establish the game that weโre playing in all 60 minutes as hard as possible. Not just 20 or 40.โ
Barkov helped jumpstart the Panthersโ offense right away.
He beat Linus Ullmark with a glove-side snipe on a 2-on-1 with Sam Reinhart 6:13 into the game.
Less than 10 minutes later, he connected with Reinhart again as Barkov passed it and Reinhart sent a one-timer through.
Reinhart now has goals in six of his past seven games and sits in a tie for second in the league in scoring.
โTheyโve been shooting the puck, for one, and I think [Rodrigues] has been good there, too,โ Paul Maurice said of his top line.
โThey have a nice bit of chemistry. Itโs not a particularly heavy line but itโs very smart.โ
Things went downhill for Florida in the second period.
Brad Marchand first cut into the lead 3:38 into the period.
Then, in his first game back from a left leg injury, Sam Bennett left after getting tangled up with defenseman Hampus Lindholm.
The injury is to the same leg as Bennett did not return.
That left a huge hole in the Panthersโ offense.
โLosing Sam there effects how much energy we have,โ Maurice said. โWe were rolling four lines there and then you have to start taxing people.โ
Charlie McAvoy tied the game with 12:40 to go in regulation after jumping up into the rush and beating Bobrovsky glove side.
The Panthers had a big opportunity to take the lead back after McAvoy was assessed a match penalty for a hit to the head of Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Florida could not capitalize and managed just six shots and two high-danger chances with its power play quarterback missing for the 5-minute power play.
Ekman-Larsson appeared to be pulled into concussion protocol after the shoulder hit from McAvoy and did not return to the game.
โWe were not quick enough,โ Barkov said. โObviously, we had some shots and some chances but I donโt think we moved the puck quick enough, we didnโt shoot enough pucks and on that 5-minute power play, we shouldโve put them on net faster and they wouldโve created more chances.
The Panthers controlled play for most of the third period, outshooting Boston 12-4 but Ullmark kept the Bruins in it and helped them force overtime.
โWe had three power play guys sitting in the stands watching us at that point, that hurts us a bit,โ Maurice said.
โBut you also have to have at your best. We still had [some good chances.] He made two or three really, really good saves.
โSo, yup, thatโs the way it works.โ
PANTHERS ON DECK
FLORIDA PANTHERS @ DETROIT RED WINGS ย
- When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
- Where:ย Little Caesars Arena, Detroitย
- Streaming/TV:ย Bally Sports Florida/ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (West Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); WCZR 101.7-FM (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL/Panthers App
- Last season: Florida won 3-0
- This season: @Detroit Thursday, March 2; @Florida Jan. 17, March 30
- All-time regular season series: Florida leads 36-19-6, 5 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers:ย Saturday @ Chicago, 8 p.m.
