Panthers take down Bruins as 1-1 series now heads to Florida

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Brandon Montour scored twice and the Florida Panthers had four third-period goals to beat the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins 6-3 on Wednesday night and send Boston to its first loss in 10 games.

The Panthers — the NHL's top regular-season team last season — tied the best-of-seven series and head home for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday. There will be a Game 5 back in Boston on Wednesday.

Montour scored 22 seconds into the third period to break a 2-2 tie, Carter Verhaeghe added an insurance goal, then Montour scored again for Florida and Eetu Luostarinen added an empty netter with 2:25 to play to make it 6-2.

Alex Lyon stopped 34 shots, and Sam Bennett and Eric Staal also scored for the Panthers, who seemed overmatched by the NHL-best Bruins in a 3-1 series-opening loss.

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Colin White #6, Nick Cousins #21 and Brandon Montour #62 of the Florida Panthers celebrate a third period goal against the Boston Bruins in Game Two of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on April 19, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts.  (Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

Brad Marchand scored a short-handed goal, and Tyler Bertuzzi and Taylor Hall also scored for the Bruins, who won their last eight – and 15 of their last 16 — regular-season games while setting NHL records with 65 wins and 135 points. Linus Ullmark made 24 saves.

Bennett, who missed the opener with an undisclosed injury, took advantage of a turnover by Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo in the Boston zone. Matthew Tkachuk kept it in, and slid it ahead to Bennett, who reached out to corral it and then extended to poke it