After a slow start in the series and in the first period Wednesday night, the Florida Panthers got back to their team personality: Skilled, fast and physical.
The Panthers evened their Eastern Conference second-round series at one game each with a 6-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.
The Bruins won Game 1, 5-1 on Monday night.
The series shifts to Boston for Friday's game at TD Garden at 7 p.m.
Florida scored six unanswered goals Wednesday after being down 1-0 at the first intermission.
The Panthers had a 33-16 shots advantage and held the Bruins without one for over 15 minutes from late in the second period into the third.
Florida set a team playoff record for a game with 76 hits.
Captain Aleksander Barkov led the way with two goals and two assists and defenseman Brandon Montour added a goal and two assists.
Steven Lorentz tipped in a shot by Montour to tie the game 1-1 for the Panthers, 1:56 into the second period.
Lorentz's grandfather, Jim Lorentz, played in the NHL with Boston, the St. Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres from 1968-69 to 1977-78.
Barkov put in a rebound to give Florida a 2-1 lead 9:49 into the middle period.
Defenseman Gustav Forsling's goal with less than a second left in the second made it 3-1. He blasted a one-time slapshot past screened Bruins' goalie Jeremy Swayman. It was the first time Swayman had allowed up three goals in a game during the playoffs.
Eetu Luostarinen made it 4-1, 1:28 into the third period.
Boston pulled Swayman after that goal and replaced him with Linus Ullmark.
Barkov's second goal came on the power play with 9:08 left.
Montour added a shorthanded goal with 8:02 remaining.
A LOT GOIN ON pic.twitter.com/0oWrIBAJFE
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 9, 2024
Charlie Coyle's goal with 7:48 left in the first period gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
Brad Marchand created a turnover along the boards and jumped over Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola in setting up the tall, as Coyle put a cross-crease pass from Pavel Zacha into an empty net.
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