BOSTON — Brad Marchand continued his hot streak, scoring on a spectacular rush with 1:33 left in overtime to give the Boston Bruins a 2-1 victory over the tight-checking Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
The feisty left winger, who assisted on center Patrice Bergeron’s goal in the second period, went around defenseman Dylan Olsen and beat goaltender Roberto Luongo to give the Bruins their third consecutive win.
At 8-6-0, the Bruins are two games over .500 for the first time this year.
Marchand, robbed by Luongo in the second period, scored his fifth goal of the season, his fourth during a three-game goal-scoring streak. Two of those goals came in overtime. He has six points in the three games.
Left winger Jussi Jokinen scored his first goal of the season for the Panthers, who are 4-0-4 since starting the season with two regulation losses. Florida had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Hammered by injuries and illness up front, the Panthers have scored just 15 goals in 10 games, and none of their players has more than three goals.
Tuukka Rask made 18 saves in the Boston goal, while Luongo had 23 saves for Florida.
The Bruins are 3-0 in overtimes/shootouts, while Florida is 1-4.
The Panthers came close to taking a 2-1 lead 5 1/2 minutes into the third period when a wild scramble around the Boston net saw the puck bounce off the post before Rask covered it. Then, with 6:45 left, a shot from the point deflected and went off the post behind Rask.
As soon as Bergeron tied it with his turnaround shot from the slot at 7:29 of the second period, the Bruins fans broke out their taunting “Lu-on-go” chants that were heard when he had a dreadful series against Boston in the 2010 Stanley Cup finals, won by the Bruins over the Vancouver Canucks.
Jokinen’s goal, off a pass from former Bruins right winger Brad Boyes, was the 150th of his career. He came into the game with no goals and five assists on the season.
There was only one penalty in the game, to Boston defenseman Adam McQuaid for holding in the second period. The officials missed a call against Florida left winger Scottie Upshall with just over two minutes left in regulation — Upshall’s stick coming up and catching Boston right winger Loui Eriksson in the face. Eriksson wasn’t cut, but the crowd was shown a clear replay of the play.
NOTES: Panthers LW Scottie Upshall played in his 500th NHL game. … RW Shawn Thornton, who played seven seasons with the Bruins before signing with Florida as a free agent, made his first return to TD Garden. He received a huge ovation when announced as a starter and received a video tribute during a first-period timeout. … Boston C David Krejci missed his second consecutive game with an undisclosed injury. … LW Jonathan Huberdeau, part of a long list of sidelined Florida forwards, missed his second straight game due to the flu. … Bruins D Zdeno Chara, who missed his fifth game with a knee injury, spoke to the media for the first time, saying he doesn’t know how long he will be gone. … The Panthers end a two-game road trip at Philadelphia on Thursday. The Bruins play Game 3 of a four-game homestand against the Edmonton Oilers the same night.