BOSTON (AP) — Brandon Montour scored twice and the Florida Panthers had four third-period goals to beat the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins 6-3 on Wednesday night and send Boston to its first loss in 10 games.
The Panthers — the NHL’s top regular-season team last season — tied the best-of-seven series and head home for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday. There will be a Game 5 back in Boston on Wednesday.
Montour scored 22 seconds into the third period to break a 2-2 tie, Carter Verhaeghe added an insurance goal, then Montour scored again for Florida and Eetu Luostarinen added an empty netter with 2:25 to play to make it 6-2.
Alex Lyon stopped 34 shots, and Sam Bennett and Eric Staal also scored for the Panthers, who seemed overmatched by the NHL-best Bruins in a 3-1 series-opening loss.
Brad Marchand scored a short-handed goal, and Tyler Bertuzzi and Taylor Hall also scored for the Bruins, who won their last eight – and 15 of their last 16 — regular-season games while setting NHL records with 65 wins and 135 points. Linus Ullmark made 24 saves.
HURRICANES 4, ISLANDERS 3, OT
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jesper Fast took a cross-ice pass from Jordan Staal and beat Ilya Sorokin at 5:03 of overtime to lift Carolina past New York for a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference series.
Staal’s pass came from the left side near the boards and found Fast loose on the right for the finish over Sorokin’s pad, ending a game that had seen Carolina blow a two-goal lead before rallying to force overtime.
Paul Stastny, Stefan Noesen and Jaccob Slavin also scored for the Hurricanes, and Antti Raanta had 23 saves. Kyle Palmieri, Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders, and Sorokin finished with 32 saves.
Game 3 is Friday night in New York.
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