Florida Panthers @ Boston Bruins game recap video, on April 1, 2017.
At the end of the game, the NESN broadcast caught Bruins Patrice Bergeron and Panthers Shawn Thornton hug and exchange some friendly words, as this was Thornton's last game at the Garden as he's planning on retiring after this season. Thornton was also named the 3rd star of the game which I thought was a great classy move by those who vote for the stars of the game.
Quick game summary
In the first period, Bruins Noel Acciari scored his 2nd goal of the season, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
In the second period, Panthers (and Bruins killer) Thomas Vanek scored, tying the game 1-1. Later, Bruins Patrice Bergeron scored his 19th goal of the season, giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead. Less than two minutes later, Panthers Jaromir Jagr scored a power-play goal, tying the game 2-2. Later, Bruins David Krejci scored his 23rd goal of the season, giving the Bruins a 3-2 lead.
In the third period, Bruins Brad Marchand scored his 39th goal of the season, a power-play goal, giving the Bruins a 4-2 lead. Later, Bruins Patrice Bergeron scored his 20th goal of the season, giving the Bruins a 5-2 lead.
Game notes
Tuukka Rask played in net and made 24 saves on 26 shots. Rask is now 36-20-0-4 with a 2.31 GAA and a .912 save percentage this season.
The Bruins led the game in shots 29-26 and blocked shots 12-6. The Panthers led the game with a 57% faceoff percentage and in hits 21-16. Both teams went 1-for-4 on the power-play.
Brad Marchand led the Bruins with 6 shots. Zdeno Chara led the Bruins with 3 hits. Zdeno Chara and Adam McQuaid led the Bruins with 4 blocked shots each.
Frank Vatrano, Tim Schaller, John-Michael Liles and Joe Morrow were scratched for the Bruins.
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy is now 16-7 after taking over as coach of the Bruins.
Three stars of the game
1) Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask
2) Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron
3) Panthers forward Shawn Thornton
After the game
Panthers Shawn Thornton talked with the media after the game and was asked about this being his final game in Boston and being named the 3rd star of the game, Thornton said, "Definitely a little emotional." "It didn't really sink in until [Patrice Bergeron] came over and said he loved me. For the third star, I appreciate that, you know getting that and people sticking around and applauding me when I came out. That's probably the closest I have been to getting choked up in a bit so, I mean it's emotional but I had a good run, no regrets, no complaints, I'm very happy with my career."
Thornton also had a message for his fans, "Thank you. Honestly thank you. I mean we obviously had a lot of success while I was here but again thank you." "The way that they have treated myself and everyone that was around back then, there's a reason that guys keep coming back here and it's because of them."
Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 42-30-6 with 90 points this season and are in 3rd place in the Atlantic division. The Bruins are now 6-4-0 in their last 10 games and their home record is now 22-16-0 this season. The next game for the Bruins is tomorrow (Sunday), when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks, at 12:30pm ET.
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