Saturday FLA Hockey Round-Up: Lightning, Panthers Drop Tight Road Games

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Michael Bunting snapped a tie with 5:28 left in the third period, and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 on Saturday.

Referee Steve Kozari was taken off the ice on a stretcher after colliding with Lightning defenseman Haydn Fleury 6:11 into the third period. Kozari was able to move his arms. Fleury did not return.

“That was tough to watch,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “But (Fleury), I went into the locker room during that pause. Naturally, he was a little shook up. It was just one of those plays that was kind of a freak accident. But hopefully, both guys will be OK.”

Evgeni Malkin had two goals and an assist for Pittsburgh, and Bunting also had two assists. Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang also scored.

Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made 30 saves in his eighth straight start.

“We hung in there,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “Tampa’s a really good team. They have one of the more dynamic offenses in the league. … I give our players credit. We hung in there.”

Pittsburgh (36-30-11) posted its fourth straight win and improved to 6-0-2 in its last eight games overall. It is fighting with Philadelphia, Washington and Detroit for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

The Lightning (43-27-7), who clinched a playoff berth Friday when the Flyers, Capitals and Red Wings lost in regulation, had won 10 of their previous 12.

Steven Stamkos scored twice for Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 stops. Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman each had three assists.

Bunting scored his 18th goal on a backhand from just outside the slot. Bunting was acquired in a March trade with Carolina.

Tampa Bay trailed 4-1 before rallying in the third. Nicholas Paul scored his 23rd goal 25 seconds into the period. Anthony Duclair cut the deficit to 4-3 at 7:23, and Stamkos tied it 4 with his second one-timer on a power play at 10:45.

“A case of too little, too late,” Stamkos said.

UP NEXT

Lightning: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

Penguins: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.

BOSTON (AP) — Jesper Boqvist scored 2:05 into overtime, Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots and the Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Saturday in a matchup of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division.

First-place Boston moved five points ahead of second-place Florida. Both teams have four games left in the regular season — with the Panthers’ all at home.

“It’s another big game, another playoff-type game against a team that’s going to be there and those games aren’t hard to get up for,” said Boston center Charlie Coyle, who had a power-play goal in the second period. “It makes you feel good. It gives you confidence to win those ones, first off, but just to do it and play the way we want to play and know how to play.”

Charlie McAvoy also scored for the Bruins, who improved to 5-1 since coach Jim Montgomery blasted the team during practice on March 25 for their lack of attention to details and not being prepared for the playoffs.

“I just think that was a wake-up call that our group needed that day,” Montgomery said. “I think why we’re 5-1 is because our team is growing and maturing, and we have great leaders.”

Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers, who lost for the fifth time in seven games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.

The Bruins swept the four-game season series between the teams and moved a point behind the New York Rangers for the NHL’s best overall record.

The Panthers knocked out Boston in the opening-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring after the Bruins set NHL records for wins (65) and points (135).

In the extra period, Boqvist skated down the left wing on a partial breakaway after taking a loose puck near center ice and fired a wrister inside the left post for the win.

With the Panthers trailing 2-1 and the teams skating 4-on-4 due to matching minor penalties, Barkov snapped a rebound past Ullmark 5:24 into the third period.

“I thought we got better in the third period,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We had nothing in the tank to do it. They pushed through it. I was happy with the effort. I wasn’t happy with the result, but happy with the effort.”

The teams showed a bit more intensity than a normal regular-season game, with tussles and scrums after whistles numerous times.

“It’s fun, it’s emotional,” McAvoy said. “I thought both teams played hard today and it was a really good hockey game.”

UP NEXT

Panthers: Host Ottawa on Tuesday night to open a season-closing four-game homestand.

Bruins: Host Carolina on Tuesday night.

(Associated Press)