Bruins Get By Panthers

The defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins finally appeared at the Bank Atlantic Center on Monday night and defeated the Florida Panthers 3-2 in a shootout. The Bruins struck within the first two minutes of the game. Following a turnover in the neutral zone, Benoit dumped a forehand pass behind to Patrice Bergeron at the top of zone where his wrist shot sailed over the right shoulder of Scott Clemmensen. The Panthers outshot Boston 8-1 ten minutes into the game. Things changed for Florida in the second period as they tied the game at 8:28. Mike Weaver fed the puck across to Jason Garrison on the left point, he fired a slap shot and went off the left skate of Dennis Seidenberg. Boston regained the lead on a five-on-three power play at 14:40 when Bergeron put in his second goal as he redirected a shot in front by Tyler Seguin from the high slot. At the end of the Bruins back-to-back power plays, Tomas Kopecky threaded a lead pass to Shawn Matthias in the neutral zone as he was coming out of the penalty box. Matthias skated in on a breakaway on Tuukka Rask and place a forehand shot between the legs of the goalie to tie the game at 2-2. Stephen Weiss also was credited for an assist on the play. He becomes the all-time leader in Florida Panthers history with 232 assists passing Olli Jokinen. There was no scoring in the third period and overtime so the game went to a shootout. Both squads missed on their first two attempts. Weiss scored on the Panthers third attempt as he faked a forehand and put the backhand behind Rask. Bergeron evened it up was a shot to the stick side of Clemmensen. Mikael Samuelsson, on his first shootout attempt this season, lost control of the puck as he was ready to shoot. David Krejci got the Bruins the victory on the next attempt as he fired the puck between the pads of Clemmensen. Boston is now 16-3 when they score first and 13-1 ahead after one period. Florida heads out of town for a three-game trip beginning with the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.