Shorthanded Panthers Gut Out Win in Boston

Florida Panthers muscle out a 4-3 win over Boston Bruins without Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov.

Less than 48 hours after putting up a stinker in Buffalo, the Florida Panthers put up a gutsy effort in a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins.

Behind two-goal outings from Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell, the Panthers picked up their first win with Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk both out of the lineup since they made the blockbuster trade for Tkachuk in 2022 and their second win of the season, with both coming against the Bruins.

Reinhart, who led the league in power play goals and finished in the Top 5 in shorthanded goals last year, became just the third player in Panthers history to score both shorthanded and on the power play in the same game multiple times in the winning effort.

Both of his goals came at huge moments for the Panthers.

The Bruins took an early lead 4:53 into the game when John Beecher deflected a Mark Kastelic shot through Sergei Bobrovsky’s following a long stretch of quality chances and offensive zone time for Boston.

Lundell answered back 44 seconds later, jamming home his own rebound to tie the game up at 1-1.

That was a major difference between the Panthers first game without its two stars and on Monday night: Instead of bowing out at the first sign of adversity, they rolled with the punches and bounced back quickly.

As things usually do when the Panthers and the Bruins face off, they got testy.

After all, these two teams played against each other for the 23rd time in the past two years on Monday afternoon.

The fracas started when A.J. Greer checked David Pastrnak from behind (and into Jesper Boqvist’s leg) which drew some ire from Pavel Zacha. Greer and Zacha’s five-minute fighting majors were the only penalties handed out from that exchange and the Bruins were not happy about it.

Both Boqvist and Pastrnak were OK after that interaction.

Charlie McAvoy, in a moment of frustration, cross-checked Carter Verhaeghe away from the play 22 seconds later and sent the Panthers to the power play with 9:15 to go in the second period.

Reinhart scored on the ensuing power play six seconds later, picking up the face-off circle off the draw and beating Jeremy Swayman with a slick wrist shot.

The goal snapped a 0-for-9 stretch to start the season for Florida’s power play and Adam Boqvist picked up the assist after missing most of the first two games due to a puck that hit him in the face.

After more mayhem between the two teams ensued — including a Pastrnak hit on Reinhart away from the hit that got the attention of Nate Schmidt less than a minute after his power play goal — the Panthers headed into the intermission up 2-1.

Brandon Carlo tied the game up 5:08 into the second period with a shot from the top of the face-off circle that went through traffic.

Reinhart restored the Florida lead 3:31 later, starting a shorthanded rush by stripping Matthew Poitras of the puck and finishing up by jamming home a Jesper Boqvist rebound.

Lundell extended the Panthers lead to two goals with a quick wrist shot off the rush with 6:01 to go in the second period.

Mason Lohrei brought Boston back within a goal with 5:53 to go in the second period with yet another shot through traffic.

The Panthers held on behind 10 third-period saves from Bobrovsky, who finished the night with 25 saves on 28 shots.

Florida will need to weather the storm without its two stars for about three more games, as Tkachuk is expected to be out with his illness until the Oct. 22 game against the Minnesota Wild.

Barkov’s expected timeline to return from his lower-body injury is about 2-3 weeks.