Bruins top Panthers in OT, but lose Brandon Carlo

SUNRISE, Fla. — Torey Krug scored the overtime winner with 51.9 seconds left in the extra session to lift the Bruins to a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center.

But it may have been a costly two points. Brandon Carlo, the B’s most consistent defenseman all season, took an elbow to the head in the second period. He was dazed and stayed on the ice for a bit before leaving under his own power, but did not return. As deep as the Bruins are on the back end — Connor Clifton and John Moore are in reserve — the B’s can ill-afford to lose Carlo for any length of time. While it was not termed a concussion by the club (upper body injury, according to a team spokesman), Carlo did suffer one at the end of his rookie season that took him out of the playoffs. We’ll see how long he’s on the shelf this time.

The B’s held a 10-4 shot advantage in a scoreless first period, but that wasn’t quite indicative of the territorial play. The Panthers had some good chances early but simply missed the net on them.

The most noteworthy occurrence in the first was the Bruins apparently dodging one bullet. Ondrej Kase, acquired just prior to the trade deadline, collided leg-on-leg with Florida’s Evgenii Dadonov. Kase was called for tripping, but it appeared to be an accident. And he got the worst of it. Trainer Don Del Negro came out to attend to him and Kase wound up going to the room, not putting any weight on his right leg.

But surprisingly, Kase did not miss much time at all, returning after just a few shifts.

Whether it was an accident or not, the play caused temperatures to rise. Eventually Riley Stillman took it upon himself to square up with Nick Ritchie, who came from Anaheim to Boston just a few days after Kase did. Ritchie hadn’t fought this year, but he demonstrated very quickly that he still knows how to use his fists. Ritchie pounded Stillman to the ice and kept on swinging.

The B’s got some of their best chances late in the period. First Jake DeBrusk had a 2-on-1 with Kase. After beating the defender, he decided to leave a drop pass for Kase, but the newcomer could not get a handle on the puck in front of the net.

DeBrusk drew a tripping penalty later in the shift but the B’s could not do any damage on the power-play that carried over into the second period.

After the Panthers killed off the remainder of the penalty, they started to spend more time in the B’s zone and eventually broke the ice at 6:55. With Lucas Wallmark tangling at the top of the crease with Torey Krug, defenseman Mackenzie Weegar one-timed a Brett Connolly and found the large space of net to Jaroslav Halak’s right.

After the goal, the B’s suffered a loss that could potentially be more damaging than any game. Following Dadonov to the boards in the Boston end, Brandon Carlo ran straight into a Dadonov’s right elbow. Carlo remained on the ice for some time, with Del Negro coming out to attend again. He eventually got to his feet and skated off under his own power but went straight to the room.

Dadonov was originally tagged with a major penalty, but after video review, the refs reduced it to a two-minute minor. The B’s did not need the whole two minutes to tie it up. Patrice Bergeron notched his 30th of the year when he tipped home Torey Krug’s shot/pass past goalie Chris Dreidger at 11:00.

Both teams had a power-play each after that in the period, but it remained 1-1 going into the third.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2VLbBHP