Florida wrapped up their five-game road trip with a critical victory in Boston after losing four straight thanks to a big power play goal and Brad Marchand re-joining a line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen.
It’s always nice to end a road trip on a positive note.
That’s exactly what the Florida Panthers did on Tuesday night, defeating the Boston Bruins 4-3 at TD Garden to salvage a victory out of their frustrating five-game road trip and head home on a high.
In the process of earning the victory, Florida was also able to exorcize a few demons that had popped up during their struggles on the trip.
Early in the season, it’s to be expected that the team will have to navigate a few bumps in the road, and it appears that’s exactly what the Panthers are doing.
Here are Thursday’s takeaways:
IMPORTANT POWER PLAY GOAL
Since departing South Florida, the road had not been kind to the Panthers’ power play.
Entering Thursday’s outing in Boston, the Panthers had gone just 1-for-19 while on the man advantage during the trip, including an 0-for-15 stretch in which they’d put up 22 power play shots on goal.
All that negativity was erased right off the bat against the Bruins.
After Tanner Jeannot tripped Brad Marchand on the game’s opening shift, it took all of 28 seconds for Florida to cash in while up a man.
Sigh of relief: activated.
“Sometimes you get a power play that early in the game and your guys aren't even warmed up,” Maurice said. “But because we had come off such a tough two-game stretch on the power play, to get that one…it also keeps the other team a little honest and makes them aware how important their discipline is going to be. Those power play guys are always guys that get paid to put pucks in the net. They go a couple games, they don't, they feel it, so they got a positive feeling coming out early in the game.”
MARCHAND BACK WITH THE FINNS
One of the changes made by Maurice this week amid Florida’s offensive struggles was to go back to a line that saw a good amount of success during last year’s playoffs.
Veteran star Brad Marchand, who was making an emotional return to Boston on Tuesday, re-joined Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, and the chemistry shown during the postseason was still very much alive and well.
Marchand finished the game with a pair of primary assists, Lundell also picked up an assist and Luostarinen scored his first goal of the season.
From Maurice’s perspective, he’s still trying to make sense of some of the amazing thins Marchand can do on the ice.
“What I can't explain is the pass to Luostarinen, which was just a great play, but now Luosty's skating twice as fast he has all year,” Maurice said. “It's just, (Marchand) does something to those young men and makes them dynamic.”
LET’S GO HOME, BABY
Florida has been a team that has thrived on the road in recent years.
That’s one of the reasons that their continued struggles on this latest trip came as such a surprise.
As Maurice explained, getting comfortable and into a groove on the road is something that comes with time, so an extended trip right out of the gate is something that can be difficult to manage.
“Everybody just wants to go home,” Maurice said with a smile. “You end up building your road endurance over the course of the year, but the first road trip, when it’s as long as this one, everybody just wants to go home.”
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Photo caption: Oct 21, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Florida Panthers center Eetu Luostarinen (27) is congratulated at the bench with left wing Brad Marchand (63) after Luostarinen’s goal against the Boston Bruins during the third period at TD Garden. (Winslow Townson-Imagn Images)