Panthers Hold Lead, Take Game With Gritty Third Period

Missing top forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, the Florida Panthers squeeked out a gritty and physical 4-3 win with a strong third period against the Boston Bruins. 

The game was punctuated by two goals from Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell, along with clutch saves from goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky during a penalty kill halfway through the third period.

There was a moment the Bruins looked like they were setting up to tie the game with a long shift late in the third, but lockdown defense by Aaron Ekblad, Nate Schmidt, and A.J. Greer kept Boston off the board.

The Shift

The Panthers found themselves in a tight spot late in the game. They were up, 4-3, and were doing their best to protect their lead they had already lost once earlier in the afternoon.

Boston entered the zone with 5:58 left in the game, and stayed there for almost two minutes. A.J Greer was able to poke the puck out to the neutral zone after a minute and 36 seconds, but the Bruins were able to gain the zone again almost immediately. Finally, 24 seconds later, the puck was deflected out of play.

It was two consecutive minutes with zero whistles, zero goals, and zero shots on net. A.J. Greer and Aaron Ekblad blocked the only two shots the Bruins took during that shift. While the Panthers were able to switch out their forwards during this, Ekblad and Nate Schmidt were on the ice the entire time, including about 30 seconds before the Bruins originally set up in their offensive zone. Schmidt, in particular, was on the ice for 2:47.

Before this shift, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped two high-danger shots on a penalty kill with seven minutes left in the game. He stopped 24 of 27 shots he faced.

Chippy again

We can probably copy and paste this exact paragraph every time the Panthers and Bruins play each other. It took 12 game minutes for this game to get hairy. 

It began with A.J. Greer pushing David Pastrnak down in the Boston corner, resulting in Pavel Zacha initiating a fight with Greer and landing them both in the penalty box for five minutes. 

It took a while (12 minutes) but the Panthers and Bruins are getting chippy again

— Alex Krutchik (@AlexKrutchikFOF) October 14, 2024

From there, both teams racked up 26 combined penalty minutes in the first period, alone. The Bruins did everything they could to get under Florida’s skin. Fifteen seconds after the Greer vs. Zacha throwdown, Charlie McAvoy reminded the Panthers that he is still Charlie McAvoy by cross-checking Carter Verhaeghe to the ground and continuing to push him down while the Panthers winger was laying on the ice. Cue another scrum.

David Pastrnak joined the party when he delivered a late hit on Sam Reinhart a few seconds after the Panthers winger passed the puck away to a teammate. Cue another scrum (again).

The Panthers scored one goal on their four first-period power plays: a Reinhart wrister from the left side of the slot past Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman. It was also power play quarterback Adam Boqvist’s first assist as a Panther.

Lundell’s Big Day

Anton Lundell knows he has to step up with top center Aleksander Barkov out for two to three weeks with a leg injury. Monday’s matinee looked like a continuation of the big step he took last year.

The 23-year-old center notched two goals Monday and won 69.2 percent of his faceoffs.

Lundell’s first goal was a hard-fought tap-in with Boston defensemen Elias Lindholm battling him in front. He got his second in the second period when Gustav Forsling picked Morgan Geekie’s pocket in the Panthers defensive zone and found Lundell all by himself. He walked the puck into the offensive zone and fired a wrister into the back of the net.