I really have no idea how the Panthers made the playoffs last season, they are so short on talent or anything special. This afternoon, Boston (11-2-2) rolled 4-1 over Florida (5-9-4) at the BB&T Center. The Bruins improved to 3-1 on this season-long five game road trip and this was their third win in a row. I hope the Bruins have gotten some rest since this game kicked off a truly insane stretch: 18 games (9 home, 9 away) in the next 32 days. Yikes.
As expected, the Panthers didn't put up much of a fight. The B's got up 2-0 in the first period and led 3-1 in the second period before adding an empty netter in the third for their first three-goal lead of 2013 (which is very surprising). Tuukka Rask (34 saves) improved to 9-1-2 and nine different Bruins got on the scoresheet although only Daniel Paille (1 goal, 1 assist) had more than one point.
Milan Lucic made it 1-0 at 7:57 on a wrist shot, his fourth goal of the season, via David Krejci's faceoff win. Zdeno Chara's third goal of the season will undoubtedly go down as the highlight reel goal of his year and possibly career. He spun around a defender then went to the goal before roofing a backhander past Jacob Markstrom (28 saves). Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin had the assists at 13:52. Florida's lone flicker of life was a garbage goal by Tomas Kopecky at 15:48 of the first period after multiple misplays by Boston in their own end and a rebound.
Chris Kelly got the monkey off his back by scoring his inaugural goal of the season, at 2:30 of the second period. You had to know it wouldn't be anything special as Paille's shot was deflected right to Kelly for an easy tap in. Making it even more hilarious, it came on Boston's lone power play and Chris Bourque had the second assist.
Paille's empty netter, his third goal of the season, came at 18:23 of the third period while the B's were shorthanded. Adam McQuaid had the lone assist after Paille used his speed to gain the zone and get past all the Panthers.
Boston will try to put a bow on what thus far has been a very positive trip with a win against the Islanders on Tuesday (7:30 p.m., NESN). The Bruins beat the Islanders 4-2 on January 25. New York still doesn't have a goalie, or defense for that matter, but John Tavares and Matt Moulson can really rack up the points if you're not careful with them.
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