Boston, without Bergeron, Krejci, wins both games in Florida after loss at home

 It's only been four days since the buzzer sounded on Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round between the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers. The Panthers had just snuck out of Boston with a split on the road. The Bruins were down their top center, which would later spread to their top two centers, and the team was heading out of town.

Since then, well, things are looking up for Boston.Toronto Maple Leafs Pelipaita 


The Bruins earned a 6-2 win against the Panthers on Sunday afternoon in a scrum-heavy, extremely chippy game. They now head back north for Game 5 at TD Garden on Wednesday one win from advancing to the second round for the fifth time in the past six seasons.

But Boston is not taking anything for granted. It watched Florida put 44 shots on net in Game 4 and score its first power-play goal after going 0-for-9 to start the series. It knows Florida is not going to slink away easily.

And yet, the Bruins did not leave room for much doubt.

Despite the Panthers taking the first 10 shots of the game -- Boston's first shot did not come until 9:06 of the first period -- there seemed to be little doubt regarding who would win Game 4.

Facing goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who relieved Alex Lyon in Game 3 and was making his first start since March 27, the Bruins got their first goal of the game soon after that first shot on goal, when Marchand pushed a loose puck in the crease under Bobrovsky's outstretched legs at 9:45.

Boston would keep the pressure on despite Florida cutting into the lead twice, first on a goal from Matthew Tkachuk that made it 2-1 at 16:00 of the second period, then on a power-play goal from Sam Bennett that made it 3-2 at 6:11 of the third period.

But each time the Bruins came back, each time they extended the lead, each time they put it further out of reach for Florida.

Although the Bruins got two goals each from Taylor Hall and Jake DeBrusk, with Hall adding two assists and DeBrusk coming back from stitches to the side of his head in the first, Linus Ullmark might have been their most important player. The goalie, yet again, was a star for the Bruins, starting with a diving save across the crease on Sam Reinhart at 7:10 of the first period.Halvat NHL Pelipaidat

Ullmark would finish with 41 saves on 43 shots and get the secondary assist on Hall's goal at 16:24 of the third period that gave Boston a commanding 5-2 lead. And just 25 seconds later, Ullmark came to blows with Tkachuk, resulting in him getting a 10-minute misconduct, which was served by David Pastrnak. Although Ullmark could have remained in the game, the Bruins opted to put Jeremy Swayman in for the final minutes.