Bruins Notes: Jim Montgomery ‘Loved’ Boston’s Resilience Against Panthers

The Boston Bruins bounced back from a poor practice on Monday with a complete 60-minute effort against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night, earning a 4-3 win against their Atlantic Division foe.

Combining for 36 minutes in penalties, Bruins forward Brad Marchand told reporters after the game it was a playoff-type game and Boston expected Florida to come out very physical.

“We knew they were going to push, they always do. They always play very physical,” Marchand said. “But, a lot of fun to be a part of the game like that and great character win.”

The Bruins snapped a two-game losing streak after dropping a 5-2 decision to the New York Rangers and a 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

“We played correct, we played hard and competed all the way through,” Marchand said. “That’s what we need coming down the stretch and going to the playoffs.”

Marchand added: “I like the response. I thought we had a good game tonight. Definitely some areas we can continue to work on, but that’s a great team over there. They compete very hard. They’re very deep. They don’t really have any holes, so good character win.”

After stopping practice on Monday to send a clear message to his team, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery was pleased with the Bruins’ resilience against the Panthers.

“I loved it,” Montgomery told Adam Pellerin on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I loved the way we stuck together out there. It was a playoff atmosphere, it’s what we’re gonna see in a couple of weeks.

“Loved the way we responded and even though we fell down one-nothing in the first minute, gave up a goal at the end of the first in the last minute. Usually, those things are things that end up costing you, but we just kept forging ahead.”

The Bruins outhit the Panthers 49-41 in the contest. Marchand said the physical aspect of the game will help Boston prepare for the playoffs.

“We want to be a part of these games that’ll get us prepared, mentally, physically,” Marchand said. “It’ll help us fine-tune our game. Making sure that we’re playing the right way coming to the playoffs. When you sit on your lead in the standings and you get comfortable that’s when you set yourself up for failure in the playoffs.”

Marchand added that he “loves” that the Bruins will be facing some of the league’s top teams in the final nine games of the season.

“It’s going to be competitive every single night,” he said. “We’re going to have to have our mindset in the right place and be really detail-oriented structure wise and it’s a great test for us going down the stretch and I think it will benefit us.”

Boston is 3-0-0 against Florida this season with one game remaining in the regular season series on April 6 at TD Garden.

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Here are more notes from Tuesday night’s Bruins-Panthers game:

— Swayman earned his first career win against the Panthers and first career NHL point with the secondary assist on Trent Frederic’s power-play goal in the third period.

“It’s pretty cool, first point,” Swayman said. “So excited about that. More excited about the two points.”

Swayman admitted he didn’t know he had earned the assist until the goal was announced by the public address announcer at Amerant Bank Arena.

— Charlie McAvoy tallied his 10th goal of the season, matching his career-high from the 2021-22 season. The defenseman broke a 15-game goalless drought and added an assist on David Pastrnak’s goal for his 10th multi-point game of the season. McAvoy now has four goals and three assists in 17 games against Florida.

— David Pastrnak notched a goal and an assist in the contest to reach 100-plus points for the second straight season. The prolific goal-scorer has 45 goals and 56 assists for 101 total points. He has 25 points, 13 goals and 12 assists in 29 games against the Panthers.

— The Bruins are right back in action on Wednesday night when they face off against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET and you can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.