Panthers center Sam Bennett returned to the lineup in Game 2. He had missed the last 13 contests for the Cats.
Neither club was able to score during the first period. Florida scored at the 1:42 mark of the second period to make it 1-0. Matthew Tkachuk stopped an outlet pass at the top of the Bruins zone and passed ahead. Bennett got to it in the slot area and snapped a forehand shot from the low slot by Linus Ullmark.
Boston tied it up 1-1 on a shorthanded goal with 7:47 left in the second. Anthony Duclair turned the puck over in the Cats defensive zone on a cross-ice pass to the middle that was deflected by Tomas Nosek. Brad Marchand skated with it to the high slot and placed a snap shot past Alex Lyon for his second tally of the series. Marchand set a new Bruins franchise record scoring in his seventh-straight consecutive postseason game.
The Panthers quickly answered back with 5:42 to go in the period for a 2-1 lead. Eric Staal pushed by the puck ahead from the neutral zone to Nick Cousins on the left side. He centered it to the middle and Staal ripped a wrist shot from the high slot.
The B's made it 2-2 with 2:59 remaining in the frame on the power play. Dmirty Orlov angled a pass from the top of the zone to Pavel Zacha on the right wing. His one-time slap shot went off the foot of Tyler Bertuzzi for his first career playoff goal.
In the third period, the Cats found the net in a 4-on-4 situation just 22 seconds in and reclaimed the lead 3-2. Aleksander Barkov touched the puck on the left goal line and Sam Reinhart cycled the puck from behind the Bruins cage to Brandon Montour on the right point. He moved slightly to the middle and placed in a forehand shot.
Florida got a two-goal cushion at 7:00 of the third. Tkachuk collected the puck at the right point and angled a pass to his left from the high slot. Carter Verhaeghe put in a snap shot from the low left circle to give Florida a 4-2 lead.
It became 5-2 for the Panthers with 7:30 left in the third. Colin White won the faceoff in the right circle and Cousins passed it back to Montour on the right point. Montour rifled a slap shot from the top of the zone for his second tally of the game. Montour is the first defenseman in Florida Panthers franchise history to score twice in a contest during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Bruins pulled their goalie in the last couple of minutes of the third period. Eetu Luostarinen scored an empty-net goal for Florida with 2:25 remaining to make it 6-2. Boston cut it to 6-3 with 1:10 to go on a goal by Taylor Hall.
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