Bruins clinch playoff berth with 7-3 win over Panthers
.JPG "Boston Bruins’ Karson Kuhlman, second from left, looks for the puck as Florida Panthers goalkeeper Sam Montembeault (33), Mike Matheson, left, and Mark Pysyk (13) defend during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, March 23, 2019, in Sunrise, Fla. The Bruins won 7-3. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)")
The Bruins clinched a playoff berth on Saturday night, but no such outcome was even remotely possible for the Florida Panthers, who lost 7-3 to Boston on Saturday. Boston scored five times in the second period.
Florida now has just seven games left in the regular season, including the next four on the road. The Panthers then close out the regular season with three straight home games.
The Panthers (33-30-12) finished Saturday night with 78 points, trailing the Montreal Canadiens by nine points for the last wild-card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
In Saturday’s game, the Panthers turned the puck over 24 times to just 12 for Boston, and that was a major factor.
“We beat ourselves,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “(Boston’s) first four goals all came off our sticks on turnovers. It wasn’t effort. It was just stupidity – bad turnovers that ended up in the back of our net.”
Boston, which has won four straight games, got goals from Noel Acciari, Brad Marchand, Zdeno Chara, Karson Kuhlman, Steven Kampfer, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron (empty-netter).
Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak, who took a 5-0 beating from the Panthers on Dec. 4, made 31 saves to earn the win.
Jayce Hawryluk, Mike Hoffman and Vincent Trocheck scored for Florida. Hoffman has a career-high 35 goals, which leads the Panthers. Hoffman, who also had an assist, is sixth on the Panthers list for most goals in a season.
Panthers rookie goalie Sam Montembeault made 31 saves and had his record fall to 4-3-1. After a hot beginning to his NHL career, he has lost three straight starts.
Boston opened the scoring with just 2:23 expired in the first period. David Backes won a race for a loose puck to avoid icing before tossing a centering pass back to Acciari, who buried his chance from the slot.
Connor Clifton, a 23-year-old defenseman, got the secondary assist for his first NHL point. It was the 14th game for Clifton, a fifth-round pick in 2013 who is seeing action due to injuries to Bruins defensemen Kevan Miller (upper-body injury), Matt Grzelcyk (forearm) and Torey Krug (concussion).
Boston took a 2-0 lead just 28 seconds into the second period. Bergeron skated behind Florida’s net, stole the puck from Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson and fed it to Marchand, who scored from the slot.
Florida cut its deficit to 2-1 just 24 seconds later. Hoffman stole the puck in the neutral zone, charged up the ice and delivered a pass to Hawryluk for the point-blank goal.
Boston – other than Hoffman’s wrist-shot breakaway – dominated the rest of the period. Chara scored through a screen that left half the net open. Kuhlman scored on a wrist shot off the right post. Kampfer got his goal on a power play, and Pastrnak scored on a breakaway, capitalizing on a bad Panthers line change.
Florida got one goal back with 16:03 left in the third period on Trocheck’s power-play blast from the left circle, but it wasn’t enough for the Panthers.