Bruins Rout Panthers

     The Florida Panthers ended a quick two-game home stand as they were dismantled by the Boston Bruins 7-3 at BB&T Center on Saturday night. The Panthers head out of road to play their next four games before finishing off the 2018-19 regular season with three home games. Keith Yandle participated in his 900th NHL game. The Bruins clinched a playoff berth and will make the postseason for the third straight year.
     Boston(46-20-9) roared out to a 1-0 lead at 2:23 of the first period. David Backes had the puck at the end wall and centered it. Noel Acciari snapped a shot from the low slot by Sam Montembeault for his fifth goal. Connor Clifton was credited with a secondary assist for his first NHL point.
     The B's exploded and made it 2-0 just 28 seconds into the second period. Patrice Bergeron took the puck from Mike Matheson behind the Cats cage. His centering pass went to Brad Marchand and he one-timed a shot from the top of the crease for his 32nd goal of the season. It was the 42nd assist by Bergeron.
     Florida(33-30-12) responded quickly 22 second later and they trailed 2-1. Jayce Hawryluk angled the puck from the top of the zone to his right. Mike Hoffman placed a backhand cross-ice pass from the low right circle and Hawryluk poked the puck past Jaroslav Halak from the crease area.
     The Bruins would regained to a two-goal margin again at the 5:05 mark. A Josh Brown clearing pass was stopped by Charlie Coyle at the right point. His lead pass got to Danton Heinen in the low right circle. He dropped it off to the high slot and Zdeno Chara powered in a wrist shot for his fifth goal.
     It became a 4-1 lead for Boston at 6:38. Karson Kuhlman carried the puck from the center ice and past the Panthers blue line. He then scored on a rising snap shot from the top left circle for an unassisted goal.
     The Panthers pulled it to 4-2 with 9:56 to go in the second. MacKenzie Weegar sent an outlet pass from behind the Florida net to Hoffman at the red line. He skated down the right wing into the Boston zone and ripped a wrist shot for his 35th goal. He joined Pavel Bure and Olli Jokinen as the only players in Florida Panthers history to reach the 35-goal mark in a season.
     The Bruins scored on a power-play tally with 4:12 remaining. John Moore was on the left point and forwarded it to Heinen in the high slot. He squared a pass to the top right circle and former Panther Steven Kampfer fired a slapshot for the goal.
     The rout continued as the B's converted again with the man advantage 48 seconds later for a 6-2 gap. Halak stopped the puck and backhanded ahead to Chara on his left. He connected a pass to David Pastrnak in the neutral zone. He raced into the Florida zone and smashed a slapshot from the high slot for his 33rd goal of the year and 200th goal of his NHL career.
     In the third period, the Panthers scored on the power play at 3:57 and were down 6-3. Henrik Borgstom moved the puck from above the right circle to Aaron Ekblad at the top of the Bruins zone. His backhand pass to the left wing was followed by a one-time slapshot by Vincent Trocheck for his eighth goal of the year.
     Florida pulled their goalie and the Bruins made them pay. Bergeron received a pass in the offensive zone from Pastrnak and put the puck into the empty net with 26.8 seconds left.