Bruins Beat Panthers 4-1 as Swayman Makes 40 Saves

The Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 at TD Garden in Boston on Sunday, November 8. Boston scored three times in the first period and Jeremy Swayman made 40 saves, a season high, as the Bruins won their fourth straight game.

Elias Lindholm opened the scoring at 4:53 of the first period. His wrist shot from just inside the blue line came through traffic and appeared to hit the skate of Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola. A video review overturned the on ice no goal call. Reuters listed the same goal at 4:50, three seconds earlier than the NHL.com time used here.

Three goals in one period

Michael Eyssimont made it 2-0 at 6:11. He scored off a loose puck in front after Jacob Markstrom stopped his wraparound move. Eyssimont had been called up from Providence of the American Hockey League on Saturday and was playing his season debut.

Morgan Geekie pushed the lead to 3-0 at 15:59, on a 5 on 3 power play. He scored with a one timer on a sharp angled shot set up by David Pastrnak. Carter Verhaeghe got Florida on the board at 18:05, also on the power play, with a one timer off a feed from Brady Tkachuk. The first period ended 3-1.

Neither team scored in the second period. JJ Peterka closed the game 58 seconds into the third. Markstrom saved a close shot from Pavel Zacha, and Pastrnak found Peterka in the left face off circle for the 4-1 final score.

Swayman and a rough night

Swayman faced 41 shots and stopped 40. Florida outshot Boston 41-36, and Markstrom made 32 saves for the Panthers. Pastrnak and Zacha each finished with two assists for Boston.

The game was rough from the start. Boston's Nikita Zadorov and Florida's Tkachuk fought right off the opening faceoff, Reuters reported. The teams combined for 126 penalty minutes. Both teams were called for two misconducts in the final eight seconds of the second period. Each team scored one power play goal from a combined 14 chances.

Boston improved to 13-4-1 and moved to 8-1-0 at home, NHL.com reported. Reuters reported seven straight home wins for the Bruins along with the four game win streak. Florida fell to 9-7-2. The Panthers have lost two straight and three of their past four, and they came into Boston off a 4-3 loss at Washington on Saturday.

For Florida, the pattern is the problem. The Panthers gave up three goals in the first 16 minutes, then chased the game against a goalie having his best night of the season. For Boston, the first period did the work, and Swayman protected it for the last 44 minutes.