Bruins stun Panthers with two late goals, extend point streak to 18

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins extended their point streak to 18 games with a 4-3 win against the Florida Panthers at TD Garden on Thursday.

Boston scored twice in the final 37 seconds of the third period and won its fifth straight game. The point streak is tied for the second-longest in Bruins history.
Patrice Bergeron scored twice, including the game-winning goal with seven seconds left for Boston (41-17-9), which is 14-0-4 in its past 18 games and leads the Toronto Maple Leafs by four points for second place in the Atlantic Division.
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Bruins highlights]
The Bruins, who haven't lost in regulation since a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Jan. 19, had a 14-0-4 streak last season and a streak of 13 wins and five ties in 1968-69; Boston's longest point streak is 23 games (15 wins, eight ties in 1940-41).
The Bruins trailed 2-0 in the second period and 3-2 in the third.
"The way that we've been playing is always finding ways and it's not always going to be perfect, it's not always going to be your best game, but you're one shot from being back in the game," Bergeron said. "That's what we talked about in the third. I thought we were better, but then giving up that third goal, we could've crumbled but we stuck with it and we found a way. So we're going to definitely take it, but we also know we've got to be better."

Matt Grzelcyk tied it 3-3 at 19:23 of the third, and Tuukka Rask made 22 saves for the Bruins, who extended their home winning streak to nine. Rask is 15-0-3 in his past 19 games (18 decisions) with a 1.93 goals-against average and .931 save percentage.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice, and Roberto Luongo made 24 saves for Florida (28-27-12), which has lost six in a row (0-5-1).
"Obviously that room is very, very down right now and disappointed," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "No one had beaten this team in regulation in 17 games, now 18. I feel we should have been that team. It all got taken away in the last couple minutes, and it hurts."
Aleksander Barkov scored on a tip-in during a power play at 2:48 of the second period to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
Florida made it 2-0 at 6:27 on a power-play goal by Huberdeau, who batted the puck out of the air.
David Krejci scored on a give-and-go with Danton Heinen to cut it to 2-1 at 10:29.

Bergeron scored shorthanded on a shot from above the left face-off circle to tie it 2-2 at 8:50 of the third.
Huberdeau's second goal of the game put the Panthers back in front 3-2 at 10:55. He took Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara wide to the right of the net, then spun and beat Rask with the goalie cheating to his right to try to prevent a pass.
Grzelcyk's goal came on a one-timer from the point through a David Backes screen.
Bergeron's game-winner came on a wrist shot from the left circle.
Bruins forward Brad Marchand had three assists; defenseman Charlie McAvoy had two.

They said it

"We're 30 seconds away from a perfect 60-minute game. They're a really good team on a really good roll. We came here and we wanted to end that point streak and get that win and move forward. Those last 30 seconds, they hurt a lot." -- Panthers center Aleksander Barkov
"We can't continue to get down 2-0 and expect to win each game. But you do have to be able to come back in games like that, down by a goal with a few minutes left. It's good but that's a losing game, so we can't be doing that to ourselves." -- Bruins forward Brad Marchand on Boston winning its past two games after trailing by two goals; it defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday

Need to know

Barkov's assist on Huberdeau's first goal was his 70th point of the season. He became the third Panthers player to have consecutive 70-point seasons (Olli Jokinen, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08; Pavel Bure, 1999-00 and 2000-01). … Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk was a late scratch because of a lower-body injury. ... Boston forward Marcus Johansson missed his first game since sustaining a lung contusion Tuesday. … This was the second time in Bruins history that they won in regulation after trailing in the final minute. The first was a 3-2 win against the Quebec Nordiques at Boston Garden on Dec. 4, 1986. … The Bruins' home winning streak is their longest since they won eight straight from Nov. 23-Dec. 27, 2013, and their 11-game home point streak (9-0-2) is their longest since they went 10-0-1 from Feb. 13-April 7, 2018.

What's next

Panthers: Host the Minnesota Wild on Friday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-F, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)
Bruins: Host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, CITY, TVAS, NESN, NHL.TV)