Final, Bruins 5-2: That’s it, and that’s all. The Bruins cruise to the 5-2 win, and they finish not only a sweep of this Florida swing, but a sweep of both Florida teams for the entire season.
Third period, 18:52, Bruins 5-2: Chris Kelly just won a race for the puck through the neutral zone, and he skates the puck all the way down the ice and puts it home for the empty-net goal.
Third period, 1:43, Bruins 4-2: The Florida net is empty.
Third period, 17:00, Bruins 4-2: The Bruins are doing an excellent job of pinning the Panthers in their own zone. Not a huge surprise given how good the B’s are at protecting that third-period lead.
Third period, 12:13, Bruins 4-2: A little bit of pandemonium here in the third period.
Jarome Iginla just answered Jimmy Hayes who answered Patrice Bergeron. Iginla beat Roberto Luongo with a wicked shot from the right wing that pushes the lead back to two goals.
Third period, 11:50, Bruins 3-2: It only took a half-minute for the Panthers to respond.
Jimmy Hayes will be credited with the goal after getting a puck to squeak through Chad Johnson. That’s one the goalie is going to want to have back.
Third period, 11:21, Bruins 3-1: The Bruins just outworked the Panthers in a big way, and Patrice Bergeron was the one who gets the most out of it.
Bergeron just banged in a one-timer for the power-play goal to give the Bruins the two-goal lead.
Third period, 9:27, Bruins 2-1: Now the Bruins are going to get a chance to add to the lead on the power play.
Tomas Fleischmann was just called for a penalty.
Third period, 7:38, Bruins 2-1: Brad Marchand almost set up Patrice Bergeron for a goal, but Roberto Luongo made the save. A few minutes later, Marchand found Torey Krug, and the Boston defenseman didn’t miss.
Marchand stopped on a dime at the left faceoff circle, spun, and fed a backhanded pass to Krug as the defenseman crashed the net down the slot. Krug took the pass and beat Luongo with the backhand shot to give the Bruins their first lead of the game.
Third period, 7:00, 1-1: The Bruins killed the penalty yet again, and they almost scored just after the power play ended.
Patrice Bergeron had a chance in front after Brad Marchand forced a turnover in the neutral zone. Bergeron tried to deke a couple of times and then put a backhander on net that Roberto Luongo made a pad save on.
Third period, 4:49, 1-1: Almost as quickly as the Bruins killed the Carl Soderberg penalty, they’re going to have to kill off another.
This one belongs to Johnny Boychuk who was just called for roughing.
Third period, 4:09, 1-1: The Bruins killed the penalty, and they had a chance to take the lead with a shorthanded goal.
Gregory Campbell got all alone on a breakaway chance, but his bid for the shorthanded goal was denied by Roberto Luongo’s shoulder save.
Third period, 2:09, 1-1: The Bruins are going to have to kill off another power play.
Carl Soderberg was just called for high-sticking, and the B’s are down a man for the third time in this game.
Third period, 0:01, 1-1: The third period is underway with the Bruins looking to get their fifth straight win and complete the Florida sweep.
End second period, 1-1: We’re done with 40 minutes of hockey, and we’re all tied up.
The Bruins are outshooting the Panthers 27-15 through two periods.
Second period, 19:22, 1-1: Roberto Luongo has been pretty good himself today. He just made a big save on an even bigger slap shot off the stick of Jarome Iginla.
Second period, 17:51, 1-1: Chad Johnson has been pretty solid so far today. He just made a nice save on Dmitry Kulikov, as the young defenseman walked the puck down the right wing before putting a quick wrister on net from the right dot. Johnson swallowed it and froze the puck.
Second period, 15:40, 1-1: The Bruins killed off the penalty, and the game is back to even strength.
Second period, 12:34, 1-1: The Panthers will be going back on the power play after the TV timeout.
Brad Marchand is the guilty party, as he’s sent off for cross-checking.
The scoring on the Bruins’ power-play goal has been changed. Carl Soderberg, who was creating the net-front traffic, has been credited with the goal, not Andrej Meszaros.
Second period, 9:58, 1-1: The Bruins have tied the game, and it’s off the stick of the new guy.
Andrej Meszaros just scored his first goal as a member of the Black and Gold, and it comes in his first game. Meszaros blasted a shot from the right point that beat Roberto Luongo, thanks to a lot of traffic in front from Carl Soderberg.
Second period, 9:22, Panthers 1-0: The Bruins, who had two solid power plays that yielded no goals in the first period, are going back on the power play.
The Panthers were just caught in the midst of a miserable line change, and they’re called for too many men on the ice.
Second period, 7:00, Panthers 1-0: Somehow, the Panthers are on the board first.
Jimmy Hayes just scored the game’s first goal. Chad Johnson made the original save on Nick Bjugstad, but the Bruins goalie couldn’t control the rebound. Hayes was right there on the doorstep, and the BC alum jammed home the go-ahead goal.
Second period, 4:00, 0-0: The Bruins have certainly had their chances here in the second period.
Chris Kelly had a chance in front, but he couldn’t quite get enough on the second-chance shot to get it by Roberto Luongo. That allowed Luongo just long enough to get across the crease to get a stick on the puck. The shot may have also caught the post.
That chance came shortly after David Krejci had a scoring chance to Roberto Luongo’s right. Krejcj was there for a juicy rebound, but he also failed to get enough on the puck to lift it by Luongo. The goalie was able to make a pad save to keep the game scoreless.
Second period, 0:01, 0-0: The second period is underway.
First intermission: The Bruins, playing their second game in less than 24 hours, will be down a player the rest of the game. Daniel Paille will not return, the team announced during the first intermission. He left the game early in the first period after taking a big hit from Ed Jovanoski.
End first period, 0-0: The Bruins’ power play is over, and shortly thereafter, the first period has come to an end. Boston put four more power-play shots on goal, but Roberto Luongo was up to the task. He made a big glove save on Andrej Meszaros that kept the game scoreless.
Boston outshot Florida 12-7.
First period, 17:43, 0-0: The Bruins are going back on the power play. Brad Boyes was just called for high-sticking.
First period, 16:50, 0-0: The Bruins just had a very good power play, but they couldn’t find the back of the net.
The B’s put three shots on goal during the man-advantage, and Loui Eriksson added a shot that rang the post during the power play.
Andrej Meszaros was on the second power-play unit in place of Dougie Hamilton.
First period, 14:44, 0-0: The Panthers just got a couple of real good scoring chances.
First it was Scott Gomez who carried the puck down the right wing and put a quick shot on goal at Chad Johnson. The goalie made that save but couldn’t control the rebound. Jesse Winchester jumped on the rebound in front of the net and quickly put it back on goal, but Johnson was able to make that save as well before covering up and ending the play.
As the play ended, Winchester was whistled for high-sticking, so the Bruins are actually about to go on the power play for the first time.
First period, 13:45, 0-0: The Bruins killed off the penalty, and they didn’t allo a shot on goal during Milan Lucic’s two-minute vacation to the penalty box.
First period, 11:26, 0-0: The Panthers are the owners of the game’s first power play.
Milan Lucic was just called for hooking, and the Boston penalty kill has to do its job.
First period, 10:12, 0-0: Kevan Miller just delivered one of the biggest hits of his young carer. The Boston rookie defenseman just lowered the boom on Brandon Pirri in the corner as the two were going for a loose puck. Miller plays such a physical style of hockey and has been a real pleasant surprise this season.
The Bruins have been much better early on today than they did last night in Tampa Bay. The Bruins have already attempted 18 shots so far, but only five of them have been on goal.
First period, 7:50, 0-0: Still no Daniel Paille, as Brad Marchand just took a shift with the fourth line. That worked out real well for the Bruins, too. Marchand fed Gregory Campbell in the slot from behind the net, but Campbell’s shot went wide.
A few minutes later at the other end, Tomas Fleischmann went right by new Bruins defenseman Andrej Meszaros and put a shot on goal that Boston goalie Chad Johnson was able to stop.
First period, 3:27, 0-0: Daniel Paille was just dropped with a big hit in the corner by Ed Jovanoski, and Paille is now headed to the Boston dressing room. We’ll obviously have to keep an eye on that.
First period, 0:01, 0-0: And we’re off. The game is underway.
4:50 p.m.: According to the pregame warmups, the Bruins will pair Andrej Meszaros with fellow Slovakian countryman Zdeno Chara. We’ll see if that sticks, as Claude Julien’s pregame pairs haven’t always been his in-game pairs.
4:30 p.m.: Warmups are underway in Florida where Chad Johnson did indeed lead the Bruins out which means he’ll be in net. Roberto Luongo will be between the pipes for the Panthers.
4 p.m.: Sunday night will mark the debut of Andrej Meszaros in a Bruins uniform. He’ll be in the lineup, and Dougie Hamilton will be a healthy scratch, the team just tweeted.
3:45 p.m.: The Bruins are in a difficult position as it is playing their second game in less than 24 hours and doing so with travel mixed in as well.
However, it’s even more difficult when you factor in that the club lost an hour of sleep. Daylight saving time actually cut out an hour of sleep for the road-weary Bruins as they made the trek from midwest Florida to southeast Florida in the wee hours of the night.
They’re not going to use that as an excuse, though, as winger Milan Lucic just told reporters in Sunrise.
[tweet https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/442748083328532480 align=’center’]
3 p.m.: The Boston Bruins are in the teeth of the toughest part of their schedule right now, and they’re turning this busy stretch into a chance to grab a bunch of points. They’ll look to continue that Sunday night in Florida.
The B’s will attempt to push their winning streak to five games and finish off a perfect Florida swing on Sunday when they take on the Panthers. This will be the second time this week that the two teams have met. Boston rolled to an easy 4-1 win over the Panthers on Tuesday at TD Garden.
Boston will be looking to finish off what’s been a very busy yet successful week. A win on Sunday in Sunrise would also give the Bruins a perfect Florida swing. Reilly Smith netted the game’s lone shootout goal Saturday night in Tampa Bay to help Boston down the Lightning. That win over the Bolts helped the Bruins finish off a season sweep of the Lightning, and a win against the Panthers will give the Bruins a season sweep of them as well.
The Bruins will be looking at a different Florida team, at least in between the pipes. Gone is former Bruins goalie Tim Thomas who was traded to Dallas at Wednesday’s trade deadline. He was moved, essentially, because the Panthers made a blockbuster move for a goalie the day before. That’s when Dale Tallon acquired Roberto Luongo from the Vancouver Canucks just hours before Thomas lost to the Bruins in what would be his final appearance with the Panthers. Luongo is expected to get the start against the Bruins.
The B’s didn’t hold a morning skate as they’ll be on the second half of a back-to-back. It’s likely that backup Chad Johnson will get the start against a lowly Panthers team after Tuukka Rask played Saturday night in a game that went to a shootout.
Puck drop from Florida is set for 5 p.m. ET.
