Bruins hold off Panthers to end five-game skid

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Boston Bruins won for the first time in six games when they defeated the Florida Panthers 4-2 at BB&T Center on Saturday.

NHL goals leader David Pastrnak scored twice for the Bruins (21-7-6), who hadn't won since Dec. 3 (0-4-1).
"It looks like we're getting back to more Boston Bruins style of hockey the last three games," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Only one win to show for it, but if you play that way this week at home, I see good things for us, especially if all four lines are able to contribute."
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Panthers highlights]
Sergei Bobrovsky made 38 saves making in his fifth consecutive start for the Panthers (15-12-5) and allowed more than two goals for the first time in those five. Florida is 3-7-0 in its past 10 and has lost three in a row after winning three of four to start a nine-game homestand.
"The last three games you can take chunks out of it, but it's not even close to being good enough," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. "We're at home. It's unacceptable."
Jake DeBrusk gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 14:41 of the first period on a breakaway after Florida defenseman Anton Stralman failed to control a loose puck. David Krejci made it 2-0 at 3:14 of the second period with a one-timer from the high slot.
"First time in a while we kind of controlled the pace of play when we were out there," DeBrusk said of his line with Krejci and Charlie Coyle. "Just one of those things that you just try to keep building as the year goes along. It was nice obviously to produce two goals 5-on-5. That's something that we want to do, especially at this time when we're kind of backs against the wall there and going up against a pretty good Florida team. We knew that we had to be good, and it was nice to see."

Pastrnak redirected Marchand's diagonal cross-crease pass to make it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 7:30. Mark Pysyk made it 3-1 at 2:46 of the third period when he scored on a rebound.
Bobrovsky stopped Pastrnak on a penalty shot at 6:29 after the Bruins forward was hooked from behind on a breakaway by Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
Keith Yandle made it 3-2 at 9:13 with a shot from the point, and Pastrnak scored into an empty net at 17:50 for a 4-2 lead. He has 28 goals this season.
"I thought we were a little bit more [ticked] off (in the third period)," Bobrovsky said. "We have to build from it. It's not really good news, but we won the period. We need to build good emotions from that and move it into the next game with that attitude."

Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves for the Bruins, who evened the season series. Florida won 5-4 in a shootout at Boston on Nov. 12 after trailing 4-0 in the third period.
"We figured they'd have a push," Cassidy said. "I thought we were playing well, could have extended the lead a number of times. Had some good looks, penalty shot. There wasn't the same level of anxiety maybe as the last time out when we played them. We certainly know what they're capable of."

They said it

"We're going home not necessarily happy with how the road trip went, but you kind of go as your last game goes. Coming back home feeling good about ourselves is always a good thing, especially when things weren't looking too good there." -- Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk on ending a four-game road trip
"We were down again going into the third period; that's not what we want, especially at home. Obviously we tried to battle back, came back 3-2 and could have had probably another one. Overall, that's not how we [have to] play, a 20-minute game. Especially against a good team like that." -- Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau

Need to know

Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov left the ice with 1:23 remaining after injuring his leg, but Quenneville said afterward Barkov should be fine. ... Center Patrice Bergeron played his 1,053rd game for Boston to pass Don Sweeney for third in Bruins history. ... Bruins forward Brad Marchand had two assists to reach 50 points (19 goals, 31 assists), making him the first Boston player to get at least that many in 34 or fewer games since forward Adam Oates in 1995-96 (50 points in 31 games). ... Bruins forward David Backes was minus-1 playing 9:19 after being a healthy scratch the past four games. ... Florida defenseman Mark Pysyk played right wing for the fifth time this season. ... Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson played 17:11 after being a healthy scratch for the first time this season for a 2-1 loss against the New York Islanders on Thursday.

What's next

Bruins: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNP, NESN, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Panthers: Host the Ottawa Senators on Monday (7 p.m. ET; FS-F, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV)