Bruins Pushed to Brink with Game 4 Loss to Panthers

BOSTON -- Sam Bennett and Aleksander Barkov scored 3:50 apart in the third period for the Florida Panthers, who pushed the Boston Bruins to the brink with a 3-2 win in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at TD Garden on Sunday.

The Panthers, who have won three straight, will have a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Final in Game 5 at Sunrise, Florida, on Tuesday.

“This is a tough building to play in, but we just stuck with it,” Barkov said. “We liked how we played in the first period even though they had two goals, but we [liked] our chances. We just kept going, kept pushing and getting better.”

Anton Lundell had a goal and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 16 saves for Florida, which is the No. 1 seed from the Atlantic Division. Evan Rodrigues had two assists.

“Mentally, it’s very important that we would stay with it and that we wouldn’t see a change in our game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Either opening it up or -- because that would belie a lack of confidence in our game. I thought their best push came in the second period, [Bobrovsky] had to make a few saves, and then pretty strong after that.”

Jeremy Swayman made 38 saves for Boston, which is the No. 2 seed from the Atlantic. David Pastrnak and Brandon Carlo scored.

“Swayman was really good,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “Gave us the opportunity, and I think we missed four odd-man rushes in the second that could have really extended our lead.”

Bennett tied it 2-2 at 3:41 of the third period, knocking in a rebound at the left post with one second remaining on a power play. The Bruins challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the call was upheld after a video review.

“I wasn’t surprised. I mean, I think they got the right call,” Bennett said. “I think by the time I’m putting that puck in, it’s before Swayman is going to be able to get over there, whether (Bruins forward Charlie) Coyle was on him or not.”

Barkov then gave the Panthers a 3-2 lead at 7:31. He kept the puck in at the blue line, skated around Pastrnak and beat Swayman blocker side while falling to the ice.

“The reality is that we’re going to go to Florida, we’re [going to] play the same game, and we’re [going to] get it done,” Swayman said. “I have no doubt in this group, and we have a lot of confidence and a lot of motivation to bring it back to Boston because our fans deserve a lot better, and we’re excited to do that.”

Pastrnak gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 8:53 of the first period, scoring with a one-timer from the right circle on a power play.

Carlo pushed it to 2-0 at 15:12 with a shot from the point after the Panthers turned it over while trying to clear the zone.

“I think we had a good start,” Pastrnak said. “We got [an] early lead, we were physical, we were on the pucks. We just have to make sure we extend the lead. You can’t sit back against, especially in the playoffs, teams like them. You have to extend the lead and keep playing on your toes.”

Lundell started the comeback at 14:48 of the second period. He beat Swayman short side with a one-timer from the left circle to cut it to 2-1.

“The first goal was obviously huge for our team,” Lundell said. “We had some good chances early in the game, but it’s hard to score in the playoffs. But we just stuck with it, got some more chances and finally it went in, and we got a head start to our game.”

NOTES: Panthers forward Sam Reinhart left at 4:20 of the third period after taking a puck to the face. He was not able to be stitched up in time to return, but Maurice said Reinhart should be fine to play in Game 5. ... The Panthers are 3-0 in their history when leading a best-of-7 series 3-1. The Bruins are 0-25 when trailing 3-1.