Swayman makes 40 saves, Bruins defeat Panthers for fourth straight win

Jeremy Swayman made 40 saves for the Boston Bruins, who won their fourth straight game with a 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers at TD Garden on Sunday.

Elias Lindholm, Michael Eyssimont, and Morgan Geekie each scored in the first period, and JJ Peterka also scored for the Bruins (13-4-1), who are 8-1-0 at home so far this season. David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha each had two assists.

“I think the biggest thing is, they do their job and I do mine,” said Swayman, whose 40 saves were a season high. “I just focus on one shot at a time, what comes my way whenever it comes and try to get in front of it.’’

Carter Verhaeghe scored for the Panthers (9-7-2), who have lost two straight and three of their past four. Jacob Markstrom made 32 saves.

Florida was coming off a 4-3 loss at the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

“I liked our start even though we were down 3-0 -- it was probably the best we had been playing,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “After that, it’s 1-1. … But the best part of our game was early, and it fell off for me there. I thought we were right at the start.’’

Boston opened with three straight goals to take a 3-0 lead in the first period.

“Really good,’’ Boston coach Marco Sturm said of Boston’s quick start. “It was just another group effort by our guys, starting with our tough guys. They let us play, and the skill took over.’’

Lindholm began the scoring at 4:50, sending a wrist shot from just inside the blue line through traffic. The puck appeared to hit the skate of Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola before getting by Markstrom.

Markstrom dove back for the puck and appeared to make the save, but a video review overturned the on-ice call of no goal, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

Eyssimont extended it to 2-0 at 6:11 after he was stopped by Markstrom on a wraparound move before scoring off a loose puck in front. Eyssimont was called up from Providence of the American Hockey League on Saturday,

“Great to be back,’’ Eyssimont said. “My duties here are vastly different than the role I was filling, but it obviously feels great.’’

Geekie pushed it to 3-0 at 15:59 on a 5-on-3 power play when Pastrnak set him up for a one-timer on a sharp-angled shot. Geekie has four goals during a four-game streak.

Verhaeghe scored on the power play to cut it to 3-1 at 18:05 with a one-timer off a feed from Brady Tkachuk.

“Tough start, we got behind it right away,’’ Verhaeghe said. “We tried to battle back, but really couldn’t get much generated offensively 5-on-5. … We fell behind early and tried to do a little too much.’’

Peterka scored for the 4-1 final 58 seconds into the third period. Markstrom made a save on a Zacha shot from up close, only to be out of position when Pastrnak found Peterka in the left face-off circle.

The Panthers were just the second Atlantic Division team the Bruins had faced this season after losing 4-1 to the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 5. Florida is 0-4 in divisional play thus far.

“It was very important,’’ Sturm said of the victory. “It’s a big week for us, and we were starting out in our division against a really good opponent. We’re very happy with the result, and in the way that we played.’’

NOTES: Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy assisted on a game-opening goal for the 56th time of his career and tied Zdeno Chara for the third most by a Boston defenseman behind Ray Bourque (178 times) and Bobby Orr (104). … Current Panthers forward and former Bruins captain Brad Marchand will attend former teammate Patrice Bergeron’s Hockey Hall of Fame ceremony in Toronto on Monday. Florida forwards Matthew and Brady Tkachuk will be there as well to see their father Keith be inducted into the Hall.