David Pastrnak failed on several attempts to end Boston's six-game losing streak but, with two seconds left in overtime, he finally got the job done.
He got some help, too.
After the B's coughed up a late lead to extend the game to OT, Sam Bennett high-sticked Charlie McAvoy with 1:42 left in the extra session and, on the power play, the B's won it — barely. With time running out, Pastrnak attempted a cross-ice pass that went off Sam Reinhart's stick and floated past Sergei Bobrovsky, giving the B's a much-needed 4-3 win in Sunrise, Fla.
Jeremy Swayman made 39 saves, snapping a five-game personal losing streak. He made two saves in OT and was finally able to raise his arm in a victory after Pastrnak's fluky winner. It was the kind of performance the B's absolutely had to have from Swayman. Whether the B's can build off their success on Saturday — if not their overall so-so play — is another question. But at least for the moment, the win serves as a good tourniquet.
“He was the difference in the game,” said coach Joe Sacco. “The goalie played very well tonight and that's what you need sometimes when you're going through a situation like we are. They played well, we had outstanding goaltending and that was the difference in the game.”
The game had all the makings of a bamboo-shoots-under-the-fingernails kind of loss. With time running out, Pastrnak - at the end of brutally long shift (2:12) - nearly ended it with an empty net goal but his flip shot from behind the red line hit the post and came back to the B's zone on an icing.
And with three seconds left, Jordan Oesterle, whose shift lasted 2:41, whiffed on an aerial puck and it sailed into the net for what felt like a demoralizing equalizer, Reinhart's second of the game.
“They were obviously pushing hard, they're a real good offensive team,” said Sacco. “We had a little trouble under pressure coming out of our D-zone at the end (of regulation). A few icings so we can't get line changes and we had some guys stuck out there for a lot of minutes. They found a way to tie it but, fortunately for us, we showed some resiliency in overtime and we found a way to get one.”
The B's survived in OT, but the better team didn't win. The B's were outshot 42-18 and spent far too much time in their own end. But to be fair, the B's deserved a better fate a couple of times during the losing streak and didn't get it. And in case you haven't been watching, they haven't exactly stolen many games against the Panthers the last couple of years. So if you want indulge in some Schadenfreude by seeing Bennett in the box and Reinhhart clutching his helmet in anguish at his bad luck, have at it.
The B's took their timely, opportunistic goals (two on the power play!) and head home with the two pilfered points in their back pocket.
The Panthers dominated the first period from the opening puck drop, hemming the B’s in their end for much of the first four minutes of the game and they would outshoot them 14-6 in the period.
But it was the B’s who took the first lead of the game and in the most unusual way for them – on the power play.
The B’s got their chance when, in a rare foray into the Florida end, Anton Lundell tripped Trent Frederic. The PP wasn’t exactly a by-the-book beauty – Sacco later told ABC it was a little “scruffy” during the timeout interview – but a simple play got them a lead at 6:02. Mason Lohrei just threw the puck toward the net. It got through to Morgan Geekie, who lifted a pretty backhander over Bobrovsky’s shoulder and the B’s snapped an 0-for-14 skid on the PP.
But the B’s could not get out of the first with a lead. After a second ugly B’s power play, the Panthers got one of their own when Lohrei held Eetu Luostarinen in the neutral zone. The B’s actually did a good job of killing it off but, just as Lohrei was stepping on the iice, the Panthers evened it up at 15:30. Evan Rodrigues got behind Nikita Zadorov, gathered a rebound off an Uvis Balinskis shot and slipped the puck under Swayman’s arm to make it 1-1.
The second period saw more of the same Panther territorial dominance, this time outshooting the B’s 14-4. But one of those four shots found the back of the Panther net late in the period.
The B’s got a PP midway through the period when A.J. Greer tried to disturb things. He clipped McAvoy on his way to the net and then tried to get McAvoy off the ice for five minutes. Lohrei stepped in, but that was not a good match for the Bruin, so Frederic jumped in and took a couple of bare knuckle shots from Greer. Both were sent off and Greer got the extra two. The B’s got one good chance on the advantage, but that’s it.
The B’s had started the second on the penalty kill after a late Geekie slashing penalty. They killed that minute, and they had to kill a later crosschecking penalty on Andrew Peeke, who appeared to be retaliating for some Luostarinen stick work. Classic Panther work there, but they couldn’t cash in.
And shortly after Peeke was freed, the B’s regained the lead. It started with Frederic winning the puck on forecheck and dishing to Geekie. Coming out of the left corner, Geekie sent a perfect pass to Pastrnak for his 18th of the year, a tap-in at 16:11.
The B’s quickly coughed up the lead in the third, then almost as quickly regained it.
First, Reinhart evened it up just 43 seconds into the period. With B’s defensemen Peeke and Zadorov backing up and the back checkers just behind the play, Sasha Barkov sent the puck cross-pass to Reinhart for a too-easy tap-in.
But the B’s reclaimed the lead at 2:06 on a good grinding shift from the third line. McAvoy jumped up to join the play and his offering was blocked in front. The loose puck came right to Oliver Wahlstrom, who swept home his first goal and point as a Bruin in his 10th game.
The B’s had glittering chances to put the game away. Lohrei hit the post at the end of a power play and then Bobrovsky stoned Pastrnak twice, first one a breakaway and then on a 2-on-1.
Then came the post shot with 18 seconds left and the late Reinhart goal to force OT. But after two weeks of seriously overcast weather, the clouds parted and the hockey gods decided to smile on the Bruins this time.