Bruins bury Panthers with 5 goals in 2nd period
The Boston Bruins scored five times in the second period en route to defeating the host Florida Panthers 7-3 on Saturday night.
With the win, the Bruins surpassed 100 points for the second straight season.
Boston, which has won four straight games, got goals from Noel Acciari, Brad Marchand, Zdeno Chara, Karson Kuhlman, Steven Kampfer, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron (empty-netter).
Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak, who took a 5-0 beating from the Panthers on Dec. 4, made 31 saves to earn the win.
Jayce Hawryluk, Mike Hoffman and Vincent Trocheck scored for Florida. Hoffman has a career-high 35 goals, which leads the Panthers. Hoffman, who also had an assist, is sixth on the Panthers' list for most goals in a season.
Panthers rookie goalie Sam Montembeault made 32 saves, but his record fell to 4-3-1. After a hot beginning to his NHL career, he has lost three straight starts.
Boston opened the scoring with just 2:23 expired in the first period. David Backes won a race for a loose puck to avoid icing before tossing a centering pass back to Acciari, who buried his chance from the slot.
Connor Clifton, a 23-year-old defenseman, got the secondary assist for his first NHL point. It was the 14th game for Clifton, a fifth-round pick in 2013 who is seeing action due to injuries to Bruins defensemen Kevan Miller (upper-body injury), Matt Grzelcyk (forearm) and Torey Krug (concussion).
Boston took a 2-0 lead just 28 seconds into the second period. Bergeron skated behind Florida's net, stole the puck from Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson and fed it to Marchand, who scored from the slot.
Florida cut its deficit to 2-1 just 24 seconds later. Hoffman stole the puck in the neutral zone, charged up the ice and delivered a pass to Hawryluk for the point-blank goal.
Boston -- other than Hoffman's wrist-shot breakaway -- dominated the rest of the second period. Chara scored through a screen that left half the net open. Kuhlman scored on a wrist shot off the right post. Kampfer got his goal on a power play, and Pastrnak scored on a breakaway, capitalizing on a bad Panthers line change.
Florida got one goal back with 16:03 left in the third period on Trocheck's power-play blast from the left circle, but it wasn't enough for the Panthers.
--Field Level Media
