Recap: Bruins on brink of elimination with 3-2 loss to Panthers in Game 4

Series shifts back to Florida as the Bruins will battle for their season.

The Boston Bruins fell to the Florida Panthers, 3-2, in Game 4 on Sunday night at the TD Garden to now trail the second round series by three games and face possible elimination comes Tuesday.

The Bruins got physical early on and took a two-goal lead after the first period on power-play goal from David Pastrnak and Brandon Carlo wrist shot. But that would be the only tallies the team saw in a game which they were outshot 41-18.

The Panthers got one back in the second period and eventually tied the game in the beginning of the third period. Sam Bennett found the back of Jeremy Swayman’s net after cross-checking Charlie Coyle into Jeremy Swayman.

The tying goal changed the course of the game after it was video reviewed by Toronto to determine if there was goaltender interference as challenged by the Bruins. The referees determined it was a good goal and the B’s were assessed a bench minor for the failed challenged.

Aleksander Barkov let some steam out of the building with the go-ahead for Florida minutes later. Twenty seconds later, the Bruins went on their third penalty kill of the third period.

The Bruins would end up being shorthanded for eight minutes in the final period. They had two power plays to tie the game, but neither capitalized or got a shot off on net.

The B’s will play for their season as they head to Florida on Tuesday, May 14 for Game 5 with puck drop slated for 7 p.m.

Here are the game’s highlights:

First period:

The Bruins opened the scoring at 8:53 of the first period on the power play.

Along the boards, Jake DeBrusk found David Pastrnak set up in the right-wing circle where he sent a one-timer past Sergei Bobrovsky’s stick. 1-0 Bruins.

The Bruins took a two-goal lead at 15:12 of the first period.

As Florida tried to clear, Brandon Carlo picked up the loose puck at the point to send a wrist shot high past Bobrovsky’s stick. 2-0 Bruins.

Second period:

The Panthers got one back at 14:51 of the second period.

Evan Rodrigues found Anton Lundell inside the left-wing circle where he fired the puck past Jeremy Swayman’s stick and the post. 2-1 game.

Third period:

The Panthers tied the game at 3:41 of the third period with two seconds left on their power play.

At the back door, Sam Bennett found the rebound from Lundell’s shot. The Bruins challenged the goal from goaltender interference for Bennett knocking Coyle into Swayman, impeding Swayman’s ability to make the save. After video review, it was ruled a good goal. 2-2 tie game.

The Panthers took the lead at 7:31 of the third period.

Kyle Okposo blindly backhanded a pass into the center lane which Aleksander Barkov picked up. Barkov stayed strong on the puck, heading to the slot where he lifted a wrist shot past Swayman, Final score: 3-2 Panthers.

Game notes:

• The storyline of this game will be the Bennett goal and video review. It may have been the nail in the coffin, but the Bruins’ low shots on goal dug the grave. What the game really boiled down to was plan and simple: The Bruins had 18 shots on net to 41 from the Panthers.
• Good things happened when you shoot — like scoring twice in the first. But the Bruins are not going to bounce back if they don’t shoot the puck or only get off two shots on goal in the third period like in this game. You still have to feel through all of this that the Bruins haven’t tested Bobrovsky much in this series.
• It’s the third game in the row the Bruins haven’t been able to generate enough offensive chances. This series, the highest SOG was Game 1 with 29, and they were still outshot by 10 goals. But the others were 15 and 17 shots, about half of what Florida put up. Tonight, that percentage was more lopsided.
• On the flip side, the ones that didn’t hit the net also hurt. There were three chances, from DeBrusk, Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen where the net wasn’t hit. If those were finished, maybe the game’s result would have been different, maybe not.
• Jim Montgomery said postgame he felt his team missed some odd-man rushes which could have extended their lead. And again, he felt Swayman was really good in net and gave them the chance to win. Swayman made 38 saves.
• That said, Heinen had a good game back and seemed to be everywhere in the offensive zone. He created plays and that was a positive takeaway tonight.
• While the power play got an early goal in the first period, it needs to be better in Game 5 with the season on the line. The last two power plays couldn’t generate anything.
• Soundbite from Montgomery about Hampus Lindholm’s two third-period interference calls: “It’s playoff hockey. There’s hard plays in playoff hockey. I don’t see a scoring chance in either one of them so I just think it’s good hard hockey plans that happen.”
• Montgomery was pressed postgame for his thoughts on the Bennett goal. He didn’t say much other than, “Toronto ruled that it was a good goal. That the play didn’t interfere with the goal.”
• On the decision to challenge, he said, “We thought Coyle was on top of our goaltender and if Coyle was able to stand his ground, he could have cleared the puck. That inhibited our goaltender to be able to react to play the puck.”
• Montgomery said he was pleased with how his team responded to killing off that penalty. Swayman echoed his sentiment saying he couldn’t have been more proud of how the guys handle things in front of him in that moment.
• Swayman postgame said he was sticking to facts when asked about the reviewed goal. “I couldn’t play my position,” Swayman said. “I know our guys aren’t going to call a challenge unless it’s going to get reversed. so the fact is that I couldn’t play my position.”