4/24/23 by Nick Antonakas
No Bergeron? No Krejci? No problem. The Boston Bruins dominated the Florida Panthers in game four of their best-of-seven series, beating them 6-2 to take a 3-1 series lead.
Boston started off hot in Sunrise with a power play goal from Brad Marchand midway through the first period. Jake DeBrusk’s power play goal at the beginning of the second period saw the Bruins lead extend to 2-0. The Panthers were able to muster up a response before the end of the second with a goal from Matthew Tkachuk, his second of the series, to bring Florida within one.
The action was back and forth throughout the first seven minutes of the third period, starting off with Tyler Bertuzzi scoring what would be the game-winning-goal to put the Bruins up 3-1. Bertuzzi continued his outstanding series for the B’s with a two point performance in game four and his goal serving as his sixth point of the playoffs. Florida fought back with a goal from Sam Bennet on a dynamic Panthers’ power play to once again bring the Cats within one.
After what seemed like a momentum-shifting moment for the Panthers, the Bruins took full control. DeBrusk netted his second goal of the game and Taylor Hall scored two more goals to add to his four point night, putting Boston up 6-2. As Boston began to run away with the game, the chippy atmosphere that closed out the previous two games of this series returned in the final minutes of game four. This time, however, an unfamiliar fighter got involved in the scrum for Boston.
Vezina Trophy favorite and Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark had enough of Tkachuk pushing after the whistle and took matters into his own hands. Amid a scrum towards the end of the third period, which started with Tkachuk jabbing at Ullmark, the B’s goalie sought out the Panthers star and tried to drop the gloves. Referees were between the two by the time Ullmark was able to rip off his massive goalie gloves and both were thrown out of the game. Ullmark stormed to the locker room to the sound of his cheering teammates with 41 saves and a .953 SV%, enough to crown him the first star of the night.
The Bruins look to put a cap on this series and move onto the second round for the fifth time in six years in game five. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night back at TD Garden in Boston.