Bruins Wrap: Boston Runs Away From Panthers In High-Scoring Tilt

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins continued their dominance at home, defeating the Florida Panthers, 7-3, Monday night at TD Garden.

The Bruins improved to 25-4-2, while the Panthers fell to 15-14-4.

Check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Basketball, as they say, is a game of runs.

Wait a minute, this wasn’t a basketball game.

Despite the notable absence of a round ball and wooden floor, the Bruins and Panthers took part in a back-and-forth affair Monday night. After 10 minutes of skating around aimlessly, Boston took control of the game in the back half of the first period. The Bruins potted three goals before the first intermission, thanks to great offensive efforts from defensemen Connor Clifton and Brandon Carlo, as well as Charlie Coyle.

Boston’s “Perfection Line” combined for another goal, extending its lead to four in the first 22 minutes of the game. From there the rout should have been on, but as we mentioned earlier, Florida had yet to go on a run of its own.

Florida scored three consecutive goals to make it a one-goal game midway through the second. Sam Reinhart, Eric Staal and Carter Verhaeghe all got on the board, taking advantage of lazy forward defense from the Bruins.

Then Boston bucked up defensively, at all levels, in the third period. The skaters had a little more juice in their legs than they did in the second, and Linus Ullmark stood on his head at different points to keep the Bruins ahead. A goal from Patrice Bergeron halfway through the period essentially wrapped things up.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Bergeron was at his best Monday. The veteran finished with four points, scoring two goals and adding two assists in the contest — all while playing his usual stellar defense.

— Carlo played his best offensive game of the season, scoring his first goal of the year and adding an assist.

— Hampus Lindholm continued to put up absurd plus/minus numbers, finishing as a plus-three on the night. He retook the NHL lead (23) in the category, surpassing Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski (21).

WAGER WATCH
DraftKings Sportsbook set the odds of Clifton potting the game’s first goal at +2800. The defensemen cashed that ticket in the first period. A $100 wager on the prop would have netted a $2,900 return.

UP NEXT
The Bruins will wrap up their season-long homestand Thursday when they take on the Winnipeg Jets at TD Garden. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.