Bruins wake up in 3rd period, beat Panthers 4-1

BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 7: Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins during warm ups prior to the game against the Florida Panthers at the TD Garden on November 7, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Bruins started the game with not much life and that's how the TD Garden sounded too, dead quiet. As the game went on the Bruins played better but they didn't fully wake up until the third period when they put the Florida Panthers away with three goals. Brad Marchand and Reilly Smith both seemed to wake up in this game, as they scored goals. They've both been asleep in the past few games, Marchand more than Smith, but it was good seeing them play better.

Quick game summary
In the first period, no scoring happened. Early in the game, Panthers Jesse Winchester elbowed Bruins Chris Kelly in the head, but somehow the refs missed it so nothing was called. A shift later, Bruins Gregory Campbell dropped the gloves with Winchester, but he didn't fair well as Winchester held on for dear life with his head down and away and snuck in a few punches on Campbell.

In the second period, Bruins David Krejci scored his 3rd goal of the season, making it 1-0 Bruins.

In the third period, Bruins Brad Marchand scored his 2nd goal of the season, making it 2-0 Bruins. Later, Bruins Torey Krug scored his 6th goal of the season, making it 3-0 Bruins. A few minutes later, Panthers Krys Barch dropped the gloves with Bruins Shawn Thornton and they had a good spirited fight. I would have to give the edge to Thornton. Later, Panthers Jesse Winchester scored, making it 3-1. With less than two minutes left in the game, Bruins Reilly Smith scored his 2nd goal of the season, making it 4-1.

Game notes
Tuukka Rask played in net for the Bruins and made 23 saves on 24 shots. Rask is now 8-4-1 with a 1.68 GAA and a .942 save percentage this season.

The Bruins led the game in shots 30-24, hits 24-16, faceoff wins 36-27 and blocked shots 20-12. The Bruins went 0-for-1 on the power-play while the Panthers went 0-for-4.

Dougie Hamilton led the Bruins with 5 shots. Zdeno Chara and Johnny Boychuk led the Bruins with 4 blocked shots each.

Player notes
Matt Bartkowski and Jordan Caron were scratched again.

Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 9-5-1 with 19 points and in 4th place in the Atlantic Division. The next game for the Bruins is on Saturday when they host Phil Kessel and the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7pm ET.