BOSTON — The Bruins earned a thrilling comeback win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night with a stellar third period.
Boston entered the final 20 minutes of regulation trailing 2-1, but two goals from the Ryan Spooner line propelled Boston to a 3-2 victory and increased its chances of reaching the playoffs to 82.8 percent (a 10.2 percent increase), per Sports Club Stats.
The Bruins return to game action Thursday night for a road matchup against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. Here are three takeaways from Bruins-Panthers.
1. Loui Eriksson Reaches 20-Goal Mark
The Bruins went into the first period intermission with a 1-0 lead thanks to Loui Eriksson’s 20th goal of the season.
During 4-on-4 play, Eriksson controlled the puck off a turnover and went to the net. He made a nice move around Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo and waited for him to go down before roofing a backhand shot into the net from a very tough angle.
Eriksson now has five 20-goal seasons in his career. He joins Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand as Boston’s 20-goal scorers this campaign.
2. Brandon Pirri Scores Again, Panthers’ Power Play Stays Red-Hot
Panthers forward Brandon Pirri is in his first full season with the team and has scored a career-high 23 goals. His latest tally came just 55 seconds into the second period when he scored on the power play to even the score 1-1.
Pirri has scored 18 goals in his last 25 games since Jan. 19, which is the most in the NHL during that span.
His 23rd goal also was the fourth power play tally for Florida in the last three games. This unit entered Tuesday ranked 27th in the league with a 15.8 percent success rate, but it’s red-hot at the perfect time as the Panthers push for a playoff spot.
3. Milan Lucic-Ryan Spooner-David Pastrnak Line Comes Up Clutch
After not receiving much ice time in the first two periods, the Lucic-Spooner-Pastrnak line got plenty of chances to score in the third period and scored two clutch goals to help the Bruins secure a much-needed win.
Pastrnak scored the equalizer at 10:33 of the period by deflecting a Spooner shot from the half wall past Luongo. Lucic scored the game-winner with 1:09 with a fantastic solo effort and beat Luongo five-hole with a shot from the high slot.
Spooner (14 points) and Pastrnak (12 points) lead the Bruins in scoring for the month of March.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
