Florida’s Sam Bennett hammers Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm during a second-period fight Tuesday night in Sunrise, Florida. Rhona Wise/Associated Press
SUNRISE, Fla. — Pavel Zacha scored the winning goal with 2:21 to go in regulation and the Boston Bruins defeated the Florida Panthers 4-3 on Tuesday night.
The Bruins, which ended a two-game losing streak, also broke a tie with Florida atop the Atlantic Division and now hold a two-point lead although the Panthers have played one fewer game.
Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak and Trent Frederic also scored for the Bruins and Jeremy Swayman made 18 saves.
Evan Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe scored for the Panthers and Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves.
Florida lost for the fifth time in its last six games, going 1-4-1 since losing star defenseman Aaron Ekblad to a lower-body injury on March 9.
Florida captain Aleksander Barkov picked up an assist 27 seconds into his return from a five-game absence from a lower-body injury.
Panthers star defenseman Gustav Forsling also returned from an illness while Ekblad remains day-to-day.
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