The fourth win in a series is always the toughest one.
The Florida Panthers proved that theory true with their season on the line Wednesday night against the Boston Bruins. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Anthony Duclair capitalized on Tyler Bertuzzi’s head-scratching defensive zone turnover at 8:26 of the opening frame.
Jim Montgomery had to scrap his initial experimental lineup. Among the notable changes: a top-line reunion of Brad Marchand, a returning Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak.
The Panthers landed a solid opening blow. But the Bruins returned to their roots toward the end of the first, delivering timely hits and stick checks and becoming more assertive in attacking the net against Sergei Bobrovsky.