Bruins' comeback falls short in 5-4 shootout loss to Panthers

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Feb 4, 2026

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Brad Marchand was not expected to play on Wednesday night. He did and, of course, the former Bruin captain lifted the Florida Panthers to a 5-4 shootout victory over the B’s.

But unlike the shootout loss in Tampa on Sunday, this one could be considered a good loser point. The Bruins got third-period goals from Mark Kastelic and Casey Mittelstadt to erase a 4-2 deficit to send it to overtime, where both Joonas Korpisalo and Sergei Bobrovsky had to make several high danger saves.

The best news for the B’s — and Team USA — was that Charlie McAvoy survived a dangerous head shot in the first period. He had a chance to win it the shootout, but Bobrovsky poke-checked his chance away. Marchand scored and then Bobrovsky ended it with a save on Mittelstadt.

The Panthers entered the game in desperation mode, behind the Bruins by nine points for the second wild card. Coach Paul Maurice might have even engaged in a little gamesmanship, telling reporters in the morning that Marchand would remain out, only for Marchand to be in the lineup. Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell also returned.

And the Panthers had jump early on. They scored one goal that was called back for an offside by then took the first lead of the game for real at 4:22. Morgan Geekie tried to move a bouncing puck and he fouled it off. It went right to Eetu Luostarinen, who beat Korpisalo with a low wrister.

But the B’s eventually woke up and took the lead on two Mikey Eyssimont goals. But a whole lot more than the goals went on in the first period.

Eyssimont tied the game at 7:18 when Alex Steeves made a nice pass to Eyssimont at the Florida blue line as two Panthers collided with each other, allowing Eyssimont to move in alone and beat Sergei Bobrovsky between that pads.

McAvoy was moving the puck through the neutral zone and after passing it, Sandis Vilmanis delivered a clear cheap shot that knocked McAvoy to the ice. Vilmanis left his feet and landed a clear elbow to the side of McAvoy’s head and his surgically repaired jaw. It was worthy of a five-minute major and Vilmanis will no doubt get a call from the Department of Player Safety.

With McAvoy on the ice and obvious discomfort, the B’s went after the Panther. When the dust settled, the refs refused to review the hit, which was within their power to do, and settled for a two-minute penalty. But it got even more strange. They not only tagged Jonathan Aspirot with roughing minor, they then called a bench minor, presumably on an incredulous Marco Sturm, giving the Panthers a power play.

McAvoy missed the rest of the period but returned for the second period. Whether it was due to injury of fear for his own safety, Vilmanis did not play again.

But not only did the B’s kill it off, Marat Khusnutdinov connected with Eyssimont, who was serving the bench minor. On the clean breakaway, Eyssimont faked Bobrovsky to the ice and then tucked it around the netminder’s skate for his eighth.

In the final minute of the period, tempers rose again and Tanner Jeannot battled A.J. Greer in a heavyweight bout with Jeannot scoring a hard-earned knockdown.

All in all, it was a good period for the B’s. But they could not leave well enough alone. Nikita Zadorov took a slashing penalty on pest Matthew Tkachuk at the end of the period. It was a ticky-tack call, to say the least, but it was also unnecessary.

As has been the case lately, when the B’s aim at their own feet, they rarely miss. Just 30 seconds into the second, Uvis Balinskis tied the game on the power play.

Then after Viktor Arvidsson was called for hooking Bennett in front of the net, Tkachuk gave the Panthers their second lead of the game when he banked a shot off Korpisalo from behind the net.

But the B’s had their chances to tie the game that they squandered. They got three straight power plays and did everything but score. The best chance was a backdoor play for Arvidsson, who had a wide open net but heeled it wide. Bobrovsky also made two great saves on Alex Steeves in tight at even strength.

Then came the killer. On the third straight PP, the B’s won the draw but Sam Reinhart picked off the pass to the point and they were off. Eventually, Reinhart fed Lundell for shorty and the B’s were down 4-2 with 1:27 left in the period.

It appeared as though the B’s would go into the break meekly when they did not have much urgency on an early third-period PP. But with 12:08 left in regulation, the B’s drew within a goal when Kastelic redirected home a McAvoy slap pass to make it 4-3.

Then on their sixth power play, the B’s finally cashed in. Mittelstadt found a rebound in the slot and scored on the put-back to even it up at 10:30.

The B’s got a seventh power play with 4:17 left in regulation, but the only scoring chance was short-handed breakaway by Reinhart that Korpisalo turned away.