National Hockey League
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Florida 4, Boston 2
When: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, April 9, 2015
Where: BB&T Center, Sunrise, Florida
Referees: Kelly Sutherland, Chris Lee
Linesmen: Tim Nowak, Steve Miller
Attendance: 11778

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers damaged the Boston Bruins' playoff hopes with a 4-2 win on Thursday night at the BB&T Center.

Florida snapped a 1-1 tie with third-period goals by center Jonathan Huberdeau and right wingers Brad Boyes and Jimmy Hayes to win the game.

Boston center Brad Marchand scored in the third period, but it was not enough.

The Bruins (95 points) fell one point behind the idle Pittsburgh Penguins and two points behind the Ottawa Senators in the battle for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Pittsburgh has two games remaining while Boston and Ottawa have one each. The Senators beat the New York Rangers 3-0 on Thursday night.

For Florida (37-29-15), the game was sweet revenge since the Bruins helped eliminate them from playoff contention with a huge 3-2 win over the Panthers on March 31.

In addition to the win, Panthers players reached some impressive milestones. Right winger Jaromir Jagr reached 1800 points and is now tied for sixth in NHL history in assists and 11th in points.

Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo, who beat Boston's Tuukka Rask, earned win No. 401, tying Chris Osgood for 10th place on the NHL's career list.

Florida left winger Jussi Jokinen got career assist No. 300.

The biggest development of the scoreless first period was that Panthers defenseman Erik Gudbranson left with an upper-body injury after taking a hit from Bruins right winger Brett Connolly.

The Panthers failed to score in the resulting four-minute power play as Connolly was sent to the box for boarding and roughing.

Gudbranson did not return to the game.

A second-period highlight came with 5:23 remaining, when Panthers defenseman Alex Petrovic and Bruins counterpart Adam McQuaid engaged in a spirited fight. It was perhaps the most action-packed brawl for a Panthers player all season.

Finally, with 4:58 left in the first period, Boston center Patrice Bergeron scored a power-play goal to snap the scoreless tie.

The play started when defenseman Torey Krug took a shot from the point. Left winger Loui Eriksson got his stick on the rebound, and Bergeron cleaned up for his 23rd goal of the season.

The Panthers got their own power-play goal to tie the score 1-1 with 1:20 left in the second period when Jagr fed center Aleksander Barkov, who streaked down the right side and was in alone on Rask, beating him five-hole for his 16th goal of the season.

It was Barkov's ninth point in the past nine games, and Florida closed the second period with a 14-7 shots-on-goal advantage.

With 15:58 left in the third period, Florida went ahead 2-1 on a bit of individual brilliance by Huberdeau, who got his 14th goal of the season.

Jagr got the puck to Huberdeau, who switched from forehand to backhand and got the puck past Rask on a bad-angle shot along the left side.

NOTES: Panthers D Dmitry Kulikov was invited to play for Russia in the World Championships from May 1-17 in Prague. ... Panthers RW Jaromir Jagr played in his 1,549th game, tying him for 11th place on the NHL list with Alex Delvecchio, who competed for the Detroit Red Wings from 1950-73. ... Florida activated backup G Al Montoya, who has been out since March 3 due to a groin injury. Backup G Dan Ellis was sent back to AHL San Antonio. ... Florida signed D Josh Brown, 21, to an entry-level contract. ... Florida scratched RW Tomas Kopecky and D Steven Kampfer. ... Boston D Dougie Hamilton missed his eighth straight game due to an unspecified injury. Before the injury, Hamilton, 21, had played all 72 Boston games and had enjoyed a breakout season with 10 goals, 32 assists and a team-high 42 defenseman points. Hamilton is skating and hopes to return for the playoffs. ... Boston scratched C Greg Campbell, LW Daniel Paille and D Joe Morrow.
Top Game Performances
 
Boston   Florida
Patrice Bergeron 1 Points Jaromir Jagr 2
Patrice Bergeron 1 Goals Aleksander Barkov 1
Loui Eriksson 1 Assists Jaromir Jagr 2
Patrice Bergeron 1 Power Play Goals Aleksander Barkov 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Tuukka Rask .867 Save Percentage Roberto Luongo .944
Tuukka Rask 26 Saves Roberto Luongo 34
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Boston 36 2 1-3 2-3 17 33
Florida 30 4 1-3 2-3 17 33
Upcoming Games
  • Florida will play their next game at home against New Jersey. The Panthers have a W/L % of .333 after a win and .556 after a loss.
  • Boston will play their next game on the road against Tampa Bay. The Bruins have a W/L % of .537 after a win and .475 after a loss.