NHL: Panthers find scoring touch, hold off Bruins

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Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart each scored two goals as the visiting Florida Panthers beat the Atlantic Division-rival Boston Bruins 4-3 on Monday.

The linemates each scored once during a 3:20 span in the second period to break a 2-2 tie and boost the Panthers, who had been on a two-game skid since handing the Bruins a season-opening loss last Tuesday in Sunrise, Fla.

Florida, which was playing its second straight game without Matthew Tkachuk (illness), got a 24-save effort from Sergei Bobrovsky.

John Beecher and Mason Lohrei each had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Carlo also scored for Boston.

Mark Kastelic assisted on all three Bruins goals en route to the first three-point game of his NHL career.

Boston’s Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves in his third straight start.

After the teams traded goals to forge the 2-2 tie, Reinhart flipped the score back in Florida’s favor at 9:39 of the second, picking Matthew Poitras’ pocket and going on a short-handed rush that he finished by scoring through traffic in the crease.

Another giveaway allowed Lundell to get going in transition, and he beat Swayman through the legs for his second goal of the game, putting the Panthers up 4-2 at 12:59.

The Bruins clawed back within a goal at the 14:07 mark when Lohrei slipped down from the left point to the circle and beat Bobrovsky with a wrister.

In the third, Bobrovsky stopped Pavel Zacha on a break-in with 13:16 remaining before coming up with multiple stops on a Boston power play inside the nine-minute mark and with Swayman pulled in the final two minutes.

The Bruins’ fourth line struck for the game’s opening goal only 4:53 into the first, as Kastelic received Lohrei’s pass in the left circle and spun for a shot that Beecher deflected out of a net-mouth scramble and put through Bobrovsky’s five-hole.

At 6:37, Lundell capitalized on a turnover at the opposite blue line and rushed to tuck the puck between Swayman’s skate and the post for a game-tying, four-on-four goal.

After former Bruin A.J. Greer’s hit on David Pastrnak went unpenalized, a retaliatory Charlie McAvoy cross-check resulted in a Florida power play at 11:45. Six seconds into the man advantage, Reinhart picked up a puck off the wall and beat Swayman with a short-side wrist shot.

A hard forecheck led to Kastelic slipping a pass to the top of the right circle for Carlo, whose snap shot brought Boston level for a 2-2 game at 5:08 of the second.

–Field Level Media

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