BOSTON — By the time the Bruins found some momentum, it was too little, too late.
Boston had two third-period goals, but the Panthers had done enough damage by that point and earned a 6-2 win to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven-series. Florida scored four power play goals in the win.
Evan Rodrigues capitalized on yet another defensive zone turnover — this time by Pavel Zacha promptly after leaving the penalty box — to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at the 8:04 mark of the first period.
Bruins struggled to break the puck out, only one shot halfway through. Lack of offensive momentum on the forecheck, making too many passes and not being able to get the puck out of their zone led to an uninspiring first for Boston.
While the penalty kill was a bright spot for the Bruins (2-for-2 in the period), they were heavily outshot, 13-3 — with two of them coming from the fourth line — and were lucky to escape the opening 20 minutes down by just a goal.
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The Bruins couldn’t convert on the power play, and continued to lack any sort of momentum in the second period. Swayman bailed Charlie McAvoy out with a huge glove save after the defenseman committed an ugly turnover.
Boston finally sustained some offensive zone time about six minutes in. Once they finally found some momentum and began to wear Panthers down, Mason Lohrei was called for a double-minor.
The Panthers made the most of it, scoring twice with goals from Vladimir Tarasenko — a top-corner rocket — and Carter Verhaeghe — a redirect from Aleksander Barkov — to blow the game open, 3-0 in the final four minutes of the period.
Much like the first, the Bruins struggled to get shots on goal, ending the second with five, and eight through two periods of play.
Boston began the third period without Brad Marchand, and remained without its captain for the remainder of the game with an upper-body injury. Things didn’t get much better after Jakub Lauko was called for goaltender interference after being driven into the net from behind by Aaron Ekblad. Fans showed their displeasure by throwing towels, bottles and other debris on the ice.
Florida responded by scoring its third power play goal of the night with a Brandon Montour goal.
Jakub Lauko gave the Bruins a little bit of life with a snipe past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it a 4-1 game for his first-career playoff goal.
Jake DeBrusk brought Boston within two goals three minutes later when Mason Lohrei dropped a pass back to DeBrusk, who shot it past Bobrovsky to make it 4-2 in favor of the visitors.
Despite some desperate attempts by the Bruins, and DeBrusk coming so close to making it a one-goal game, Sam Reinhart sealed a Game 3 win with an empty-net goal before Rodrigues potted his second of the game — the Panthers’ fourth on the power play — to make it 6-2.
The series continues in Boston on Sunday with Game 4 at 6:30 p.m. EST.
