Bruins Fall to Panthers in OT, Suffer First Back-to-Back Losses

SUNRISE, Fla. - In a season of impressive feats, one of the Bruins' most notable achievements was that they had avoided consecutive losses well past the halfway mark of the 2022-23 campaign. But in their 49th game of the year, that streak ended - quite abruptly - as Boston surrendered three different one-goal leads en route to a 4-3 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday night at FLA Live Arena.
David Pastrnak gave the Bruins the lead with just 48 seconds remaining when he tallied his 38th goal of the season, but the Black & Gold failed to hang on as they allowed the tying goal to Aleksander Barkov with 3 seconds to go in regulation. Sam Reinhart then won it for Florida only 17 seconds into the extra session to hand the Bruins their second straight loss after the club's 3-2 setback in Tampa on Thursday night.

"Stuff happens," said Charlie Coyle. "It's how we face that adversity, whether it's in-game, game to game, it's only gonna help us. We learn from it and kind of use it the right way. That's what we have to do with this one tonight. The beauty of it is we get to come back [Sunday in Carolina] and have another crack at it."
The Bruins are also getting a lesson in what comes with being the league's top team, as every night their opponents are bringing their very best, a development that Boston is trying to use to their advantage for the long run.
"It's a tough task but it's something that we want," said Coyle. "That's only gonna make us better prepared come playoff time when every game is like that. We know that, we know everyone's gonna come gunning for us and ready to play, whether they're on a back-to-back or whatever the case is.
"It is up to us to bring that focus and be prepared for it. It's not gonna be perfect every night but you need to make sure to bring that effort and do the right things to give us the best possible chance. But we're gonna see that every night so that's something we look for."

Coach Jim Montgomery believed that his club struggled to match the Panthers' focus and intensity throughout the game - and particularly in the third period - despite taking the lead on three separate occasions (Craig Smith, 16:50 of the first; Coyle, 17:55 of the second; and Pastrnak, 19:11 of the third).
"They played desperate, and we didn't match it," said Montgomery. "I thought they had numbers on the puck a lot quicker than we did. Their puck support was better than ours which just comes down to work…I guess it is [tough], night in, night out, when you're playing a lot of games. But we've been able to match and surpass a lot of people's intensity prior. We've just got to get back to that."
On the tying goal from Barkov as time was ticking down in regulation, Montgomery lamented the Bruins' inability to clear the puck when they had the chance, as well as their lack of energy as the game progressed.
"Yeah, very surprised, especially with them on the end of a back-to-back, I thought we were gonna be in shape in the third period," Montgomery said when asked if he was surprised the Bruins seemed to peter out during the final frame.
"I thought we had an opportunity twice to get the puck out and we weren't able to. And then, I thought we got desperate, and we started sliding. We don't really encourage anyone to leave their feet in the D-zone because you do more on your feet than off your feet."

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