Bruins 'love it,' as Ullmark squares up with Tkachuk in Game 4

SUNRISE, Fla. — Linus Ullmark left the ice with a few minutes left to play, which ordinarily isn't a great thing for hockey goaltenders.

In this case, it only made the Boston Bruins appreciate him more.

Ullmark stopped 41 shots before leaving the game with 3:11 remaining after drawing a misconduct penalty — he wanted to fight Florida's Matthew Tkachuk as the highlight of a late-game scrum — and the Bruins defeated the Panthers 6-2 on Sunday to move one game away from the second round of the playoffs.

«I love it,» Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said of his goalie. «He's all in.»

Taylor Hall had two goals and two assists, Jake DeBrusk scored twice, and the Bruins took a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series — with a chance to advance coming in Boston on Wednesday.

Brad Marchand and Tyler Bertuzzi also had goals for the Bruins, who got a second consecutive win on Florida ice. Hall's goals came in the final 3:36, the second one an empty-netter.

But the talk of the locker room was Ullmark, for good reason.

«Tkachuk's kind of doing a lot of things to try and get under our skin but for the most part, we're doing a great job of keeping it between the whistles, and I'm proud of our group for doing so,» Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo said. «But at times, you've got to show a little passion and push back.»

Tkachuk and Sam Bennett had goals for Florida, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots for the Panthers.

Hall put it away with 3:36 left, getting behind Florida's defense and beating Bobrovsky easily for a 5-2 edge that sent Panthers fans to the exits — possibly for the last time this season.

«I liked the way we started. Certainly didn't like the end result,» Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. «But we'll go into