BOSTON — One game after Sam Bennett knocked Brad Marchand out of the playoffs, the Panthers forward sent the rest of the Bruins to the edge of elimination with an equally contentious push to Charlie Coyle’s back.
Already receiving jeers in the Garden due to a hit on Marchand that the Bruins claim was a cheap shot, Bennett scored the equalizing goal in Game 4 on Sunday night after causing Coyle to fall into Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman.
The goal was confirmed by the NHL replay center in Toronto, and Aleksander Barkov scored the game-winner four minutes later to lead Florida to a 3-2 triumph and a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
“I’m putting that puck in before Swayman’s going to be able to get over there, whether Coyle was on him or not. So, I think that’s the reason why it stood,” Bennett said. “And that’s how I saw it, as well.”
A year after Florida eliminated the record-setting Bruins in the first round on its way to the Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers won their third straight to send Boston one game from elimination. Florida rallied from a two-goal deficit and took the lead with 13 minutes left when Barkov slipped through three Bruins defenders for the deciding goal.
“It’s so much fun to watch Barky play hockey,” Bennett said. “For anyone else, that’s a career highlight goal. And for him, it’s just another day in the office. Pretty remarkable what he can do.”
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 shots and Anton Lundell also scored for Florida, which can advance to the Eastern Conference finals with a victory in Game 5 at home on Tuesday night.
Playing without Marchand, their captain and leading scorer in the postseason, Boston jumped to a 2-0 lead with goals from David Pastrnak and Brandon Carlo. Swayman made 38 saves, but he was covered up by Coyle when Bennett tied the game 3:41 into the third period.
“The fact is that my own player was pushed into me by theirs and I couldn’t play my position,” Swayman said.
According to NHL Rule 69.1, “If a defending player has been pushed, shoved, or fouled by an attacking player so as to cause the defending player to come into contact with his own goalkeeper, such contact shall be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for purposes of this rule, and if necessary a penalty assessed to the attacking player and if a goal is scored it would be disallowed.”
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said he was informed by the referees that “the play didn’t interfere with the goal.”
“That’s the explanation I got,” Montgomery said.
Unlike its more popular major North American sports brethren, the NHL does not make referees available to reporters to explain controversial calls. The Bruins said general manager Don Sweeney would address the media on Monday.
For the Bruins, it was a pattern of missed calls that already cost them their captain. Bennett denied on Sunday night that he had tried to hit Marchand, saying he was bracing himself for the collision when he made contact with the Boston forward’s head.
Marchand was not allowed to play in Game 4 and was said to be in the concussion protocol.
Bennett said that people can have their own opinions and he knows it was not intentional. He thinks it's sad that the other player got injured and emphasizes that the action was not meant to punch in the face on purpose.
Boston, which lost three of its most recent four games in the regular season, causing them to fall one point below Florida in the Atlantic Division, now needs to win three consecutive games — including two away games — to stay in the playoffs.
Pastrnak had 47 goals this season, but only scored once on the power play in the last 34 regular season games and the first 10 playoff games. Boston had not scored at all on the man-advantage in the first 11 tries in the Florida series. However, Pastrnak managed to shoot a 92 mph shot past Bobrovsky just off the faceoff after Aaron Ekblad was sent off for interference in the middle of the first period.
Carlo, who scored in Game 1 shortly after his wife gave birth to their son, made it 2-0 with five minutes remaining in the first period with what seemed to be a harmless wrist shot from the blue line.
But the Panthers continued to take shots on the net, outshooting Boston 15-5 in the first period, and it paid off early in the second when Lundell made it a one-goal game five minutes into the second period. Overall, Florida had a 41-18 advantage in shots.
