Bruins top Panthers on Stempniak OT goal

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Forward Lee Stempniak continues to prove a valuable acquisition for the Boston Bruins.
Stempniak scored with 1:00 left in overtime to lift the Bruins to a 5-4 win against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center on Monday.
He had two assists Monday and has six points (one goal) in four games since being acquired Feb. 29 in a trade with the New Jersey Devils.

"It's been fun," Stempniak said. "I'm with two great players (Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron) having great years and I'm trying to complement them and not to mess it up."

Jaromir Jagr had an assist for the Panthers to move into sole possession of third place on the NHL's all-time point list with 1,851. Jagr passed Gordie Howe and trails Wayne Gretzky (2,857) and Mark Messier (1,887).
"It's more for you guys (in the media)," said Jagr, who played in his 1,613th NHL game, passing Ray Bourque for ninth in League history. "It's behind me now. Let's concentrate on wins."
The victory made Claude Julien the winningest coach in Bruins history with his 388th regular-season victory. He had been tied with Art Ross.
Boston (37-23-7) tied Florida for second place in the Atlantic Division with 81 points, one behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, who lost 4-2 against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday. Boston has played one more game than Florida.

Boston has won 19 of its past 23 games against Florida.
The Panthers rallied from down 4-1, tying it with 4:43 left in regulation when Jiri Hudler scored on a rebound of an Alexander Petrovic shot from the point.
After each team had great chances in overtime, Stempniak scored on a wrist shot that beat Panthers goalie Al Montoya high to the glove side.
"When you look at the goal he scored tonight, it was a great goal," Julien said. "I don't think too many goaltenders would have stopped that shot."

Bergeron scored two goals, giving him five in Boston's past four games.
David Pastrnak and Brett Connolly scored the other Boston goals, and Marchand had two assists. Forward Noel Acciari, playing in his fourth NHL game, got his first NHL point with an assist on Connolly's goal.
Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask made 47 saves.
"A lot of rubber," Rask said. "We got a comfortable lead in the first, but we also gave up a lot. In the second, we were passive and they scored a few goals, and we never regrouped from that. The third period was better."

Hudler had two goals, and Aleksander Barkov and Jussi Jokinen scored for the Panthers (36-21-9), who have lost five of their past six games (1-3-2). Jonathan Huberdeau, back in the lineup after missing six games because of an upper-body injury, had two assists.
Goalie Roberto Luongo started for Florida but was replaced by Montoya at the start of the second period after allowing four goals on 16 shots.
Florida outshot Boston 51-32, easily surpassing its previous season high of 44 shots against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 6.
Boston led 4-1 after the first period after scoring three goals on odd-man rushes and another when Pastrnak went in alone on Luongo before deking him with a backhand between the legs.

"We were disappointed, real disappointed," Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said. "We just made a lot of mental mistakes in that first period. We gave them three goals. I mean, they had four breakaways and three or four 2-on-1s. It was awful. We got a jolt in the second period and we battled back and got back in the hockey game and we were fortunate to get back in and get a point."
Bergeron opened the scoring 34 seconds in when he redirected Marchand's feed past Luongo's glove. After Pastrnak made it 2-0 at 7:00, Connolly beat Luongo with a wrist shot from the short side at 12:22.
Florida cut into Boston's lead when Barkov scored at 16:48 on a rebound after Rask had stopped Jagr's shot from the slot.
Bergeron answered 37 seconds later when he one-timed Stempniak's pass.

The Panthers dominated the second period, outshooting the Bruins 18-5 and getting two goals to cut the margin to one.
"We gave them 16 shots in that first period and were up 4-1," Julien said. "We talked about it and we didn't get any better in the second and we lost our offensive game too. One of the worst periods I've seen in a long time from our hockey club. We got better in the third period, but we had to go to overtime to win. It was a hard-fought game by both teams. We're not teams that like to give up that many goals."
Hudler, acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames on Feb. 27, scored his first goal for the Panthers at 3:15 of the second when he one-timed Huberdeau's pass to the off wing.
Jokinen made it 4-3 nine seconds into a power play when he took a feed from Reilly Smith from behind the net and one-timed it past Rask at 6:08.
"It was a bad start again, down three goals," Jagr said. "It's not easy to come back against a team like that. They're a very good team. I'm glad we got a point. It was a big point for us, but we just have to play a little bit better from the start of the game."