Panthers Drop Game Four as Bruins Take 3-1 Lead

A game two win in Boston had the Florida Panthers and their fans hopeful that they could compete with the Bruins in the best-of-seven first round playoff series. The series was tied up 1-1 and the Panthers were returning home after stealing home ice advantage. That hopeful feeling quickly disappeared in the following days as the Bruins came down to Sunrise and took both games from the Panthers to firmly gain control of the series. 

Much like in game three, the Panthers couldn’t get anything going offensively early on. The lack of scoring chances and offensive zone time quickly drained the energy out of what was a raucous FLA Live Arena. Midway through the first period the Bruins got on the board with a power play goal by Brad Marchand to take a 1-0 lead. That score remained throughout the rest of the first period as the Panthers continued to struggle on the offensive side of the ice.

The Bruins scored less than two minutes into the second period to take a 2-0 lead and at this point many had started to get the feeling that Boston was en route to pulling away with both the game and the series. The Panthers fought back and finally broke their scoreless drought with a goal by Matthew Tkachuk late in the second period that cut the Bruins lead to one. Boston responded quickly to start the third period and took a 3-1 lead before really blowing the game open in the final 12 minutes. The game ended with a lopsided 6-2 final score as Boston took a commanding lead in the seven-game series.

The series shifts back to Boston for game 5 on Wednesday night on ESPN. The Panthers will be fighting to keep their season alive while the Bruins will be looking to close the series out and start preparing for their second-round matchup. The game will be at the TD Garden where the Bruins are an NHL best 35-5-3 on the year. The Panthers missed their opportunity to keep the series competitive by not being able to secure a win in either home game and have now dug themselves into a nearly impossible hole to climb out of.