SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers gained ground in the battle for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, defeating the Boston Bruins 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday night at the BB&T Center.
The only goal in the shootout was by Panthers center Brandon Pirri.
Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo stopped Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Ryan Spooner to get the win.
The Panthers (33-25-14) trail the Bruins by four points. The Ottawa Senators are also in thick of the race, trailing Boston by one point.
Boston (36-24-12) has lost four games in a row.
The Panthers snapped their nine-game losing streak in their series with Boston. That streak had been the second-longest still active in the NHL, trailing only the 10 straight wins by Boston over Tampa Bay.
Florida beat Boston goalie Tuukka Rask, who had won 10 straight against the Panthers with a 0.99 GAA, including three shutouts.
The game had a playoff feel with an announced crowd of 17,044, almost evenly split between Panthers fans and Bruins backers. The Panthers rank last in the NHL in average attendance (11,023).
Florida scored first, getting right winger Jimmy Hayes’ 18th goal of the season with 5:19 left in the first period. Center Dave Bolland made the play happen with a blind pass from the right corner directly to Hayes, who was parked in front of the crease.
Boston tied the score on a power-play goal by center Patrice Bergeron with 17:08 left in the second period. The Bruins passed the puck brilliantly — assists went to center Ryan Spooner and defenseman Dougie Hamilton — before finding Bergeron in the slot for his 20th goal of the season.
Bollard nearly put the Panthers up 2-1 with six minutes left in the third period. But Bolland, staring at an open left side of the net, could not control the puck, and Boston defenseman Dennis Seidenberg came in to break up the play.
NOTES: Boston scratched RWs Reilly Smith and Brett Connolly. … Panthers winger Shawn Thornton played his 600th NHL game on Saturday. … He also played 605 games in the minors and is one of only three players to log that many games at both the NHL and AHL levels. … Bruins RW David Krejci, who has been out since Feb. 20 with a partially torn MCL in his left knee, was a game-time decision to return on Saturday, but he was held out. … C Ryan Spooner, who was called up from the AHL to replace Krejci, has played well, earning 11 points in his first 13 games.