Florida continues to have issues staying out of the penalty box, allowing the Bruins five power plays

The Florida Panthers played a solid game in Boston on Saturday afternoon but ultimately came up short in overtime.

Florida will now head back to Sunrise for the final games of the regular season, almost assured of second place in the Atlantic Division now.

The win gives Boston a five-point edge on the Panthers with four games remaining for each team.

As for the game itself, it didn’t take long for Florida to set the tone.

A fortuitous bounce off the glass behind Boston’s net went right to Matthew Tkachuk during the game’s opening minute.

Tkachuk picked up the puck in the slot and wired a shot past Linus Ullmark to put Florida up 1-0 37 seconds into the game.

Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy tied the game a few minutes later when he found the puck between the circles and beat Sergei Bobrovsky glove side.

The game would be tightly contested through much of the first two periods, but it was the Bruins taking a 2-1 lead into the final frame thanks to a power play goal by Charlie Coyle in the waning minutes.

Florida came out for the third period and played their best hockey of the afternoon, outshooting the Bruins 13-5.

Sasha Barkov tied the game at the 5:24 mark when he smacked a rebound past Ullmark while both teams were skating four-on-four.

Jesper Boqvist scored during the overtime session to give Boston the bonus point after turning over Oliver Ekman-Larsson at the Bruins blue line and skating in all alone on Bobrovsky.

On to the final homestand of the regular season.

Here are some thoughts and observations from Saturday’s battle with Boston:

Florida is still having trouble staying out of the penalty box, allowing Boston to have five power plays.

Barkov extended his point streak to seven games with Saturday’s goal. He’s got five goals and 10 points during the run.

Vladimir Tarasenko is also riding a point streak. His assist on Tkachuk’s goal gave Vlady six points in his past four games.

Tkachuk has now scored in consecutive games for the first time since late January. He has two goals and five points over his past three outings. 

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