Bruins win second straight game in Florida for 3-1 series lead

SUNRISE, Fla. — Taylor Hall and Jake DeBrusk each scored twice, Linus Ullmark stopped 41 shots and the Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 6-2 in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff game Sunday.

Brad Marchand and Tyler Bertuzzi also had goals for the Bruins, who took a 3-1 lead in the series by getting a second consecutive win on Florida ice. Hall added two assists, and both of his goals came in the final 3:36 — the second one an empty-netter.

Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett had goals for Florida, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots for the Panthers, who’ll try to fend off elimination when they visit Boston for Game 5 on Wednesday.

Tempers flared at the end, with all 11 players on the ice — Bobrovsky had been pulled — getting involved in a scrum with 3:11 remaining, highlighted by Ullmark wanting to fight Tkachuk and referees not letting that happen.

Ullmark wound up getting a misconduct penalty, ending his day a bit early.

Hall put it away with 3:36 left, getting behind Florida’s defense and beating Bobrovsky easily for a 5-2 edge that sent Panthers fans to the exits — possibly for the last time this season.

All Boston needs to do now is avoid a three-game losing streak in order to reach the second round for the fifth time in the past six seasons.

The Bruins dropped three in a row only once all season, on their way to having the best regular-season mark in NHL history — 65-12-5. Sunday’s win was Boston’s 68th of the season; only 10 teams, including playoffs, have ever won more in a single season.

HURRICANES 5, ISLANDERS 2: Seth Jarvis scored twice and Carolina snapped an eight-game postseason road losing streak with a victory over New York, pushing the Islanders to the brink of elimination.

Sebastian Aho added a goal and two assists and Antti Raanta made 27 saves in helping the Canes win on the road in the playoffs for the first time since the second round in 2021.

Aho’s goal was his record-setting 20th in the postseason with Carolina, breaking the franchise record he shared with Eric Staal.

Martin Necas and Mackenzie MacEachern also scored and Stefan Noesen had the primary assist on two power-play goals for the Hurricanes. They can wrap up the best-of-seven series in Game 5 on Tuesday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.

STARS 3, WILD 2: Tyler Seguin scored two power-play goals and Jake Oettinger made 33 saves in a brilliant show in his home state to help the Dallas Stars bounce back from a lopsided loss and beat host Minnesota in Game 4 to even their first-round NHL playoff series.

Evgenii Dadonov gave the Stars a two-score lead early in the third period just 8 seconds after escaping the penalty box, his third goal of the series. John Klingberg scored for the Wild less than three minutes later against his former team right after a goal-line block on the other end.

Both of Seguin’s goals followed questionable penalties on Minnesota’s feisty right wing Marcus Foligno, who was called for tripping with 4:49 remaining before Seguin delivered his third goal of the series.

Frederick Gaudreau gave the Wild another opening on his power-play goal with 1:20 left, but Oettinger didn’t budge. He finished off another golden playoff performance by getting a glove on Marcus Johansson’s close-range slap shot from the right circle with 12 seconds left as the Wild bench winced with disappointment.

STARS 3, WILD 2: Tyler Seguin scored two power-play goals and Jake Oettinger made 33 saves in a brilliant show in his home state to help Dallas bounce back from a lopsided loss to win at Minnesota in Game 4 to even their first-round NHL playoff series.

Evgenii Dadonov gave the Stars a two-score lead early in the third period just 8 seconds after escaping the penalty box, his third goal of the series. John Klingberg scored for the Wild less than three minutes later against his former team right after a goal-line block on the other end.

Both of Seguin’s goals followed questionable penalties on Minnesota’s feisty right wing Marcus Foligno, who was called for tripping with 4:49 remaining before Seguin delivered his third goal of the series.

Frederick Gaudreau gave the Wild another opening on his power-play goal with 1:20 left, but Oettinger didn’t budge. He finished off another golden playoff performance by getting a glove on Marcus Johansson’s close-range slap shot from the right circle with 12 seconds left as the Wild bench winced with disappointment.

OILERS 5, KINGS 4 (OT): Zach Hyman scored at 10:39 of PT as Edmonton rallied from three goals down late in the first period to beat host Los Angeles andto even its first-round series at two games apiece.

Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist for the Oilers, and Evan Bouchard had a goal and two assists. Evander Kane scored the tying goal late in the third period. Viktor Arvidsson had a goal and an assist for the Kings.