SUNRISE, Florida - Centre Brad Marchand scored two goals to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-1 victory over their rivals in the Atlantic Division, the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
Boston improved to 4-0-0 on the road this season.
The Bruins (5-3-1), who have the leading power play in the NHL this season, got a pair of goals with the man advantage - one by Marchand and the second by defender Zdeno Charra, who also had an assist in the game.
Florida (5-4-1), which went 3-for-3 on the power play in their previous game, a 4-1 win over Colorado, also marked its special teams - a goal by Center Nick Bjugstad who came on a five against three situation.
But Boston goalie Tuukka Rask (3-3-1), who struggled to start this season, but has allowed only one goal in their last two games, Boston helped kill the rest of the Florida power play.
The Panthers finished only 1-6 on their power play. The Bruins Winter Classic Jersey 2016, who was 2-for-3 on their power play, killed two penalties in the final five minutes, including a game-misconduct on Merchant for boarding Dmitry Kulikov defender.
Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo (3-4-1) took the loss in a battle between two elite guards. Rask's Vezina Award winner in 2014, and Luongo is the leader in wins among active guards.
Boston opened the scoring with 9:22 elapsed in the first period. Florida was down a man when Reilly Smith - who was acquired from Boston in the offseason in exchange for fellow right-winger Jimmy Hayes - was sent off for hooking.
The Bruins have enjoyed the screening Luongo on a point shot by Charra. Marchand, who created traffic, got the goal of the tip-in.
Marchand, who has four goals this season, made it 2-0 with 7:07 elapsed in the second period. After a shooting defenseman Torey Krug was stopped by Luongo, Marchand piqued and scored on a backhand.
Only 21 seconds later, the Panthers center Brandon Pirri was sent off for tripping. This opened things for the peak in Charra, his first goal of the season. Center David Krejci Bruins, who drew the tripping penalty, also won the primary assist on the play.
The objective of Bjugstad, which came with 11:32 elapsed in the second period, came out of a scramble in front of Rask. It was the fourth goal of the season for Bjugstad.
Boston scored a goal in the second period by defenseman Adam McQuaid wave when left winger Loui Eriksson was called for interfering with Luongo.
NOTES: Two-thirds of the top line of Florida - RW Jaromir Jagr (ribs, groin) and C Aleksander Barkov (hand) - sitting on. ... Panthers LW Logan Shaw, 23, made his NHL debut. Panthers third-round choice in 2011, Shaw was recalled from Portland of the AHL Thursday when D Dylan Olsen has been sent. ... Florida also scratched D Steven Kampfer. D ... Brian Campbell, 36, is the only player left on the Panthers since 2011, when GM Dale Tallon took over. ... Bruins D Kevan Miller (lower body) returned to the game. ... Boston scratched C and D Joonas Kemppainen Zach Trotman. ... Bruins D Dennis Seidenberg returned to training this week for the first time since back surgery but is expected to miss another month. ... Backup guards of both teams are out of 2-0 starts - Al Montoya Florida and Jonas Gustavsson Boston.
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