Bruins top Panthers in OT, extend points streak

Pavel Zacha scored at 3:36 of overtime as the Boston Bruins erased an early two-goal deficit to beat the visiting Florida Panthers 3-2 in Monday night's rematch of last season's Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy also scored for Boston, which has recorded points in all nine games this season (8-0-1).

Linus Ullmark made 35 saves, stopping all 12 shots he faced in the third period.

Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart each had a goal and an assist to lead Florida, which led 2-0 at the first intermission and had a 16-6 shot advantage in the opening frame.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots in Florida's net.

The Panthers also went 0-for-3 on the power play, including coming up empty on a major after McAvoy's match penalty after a hit on Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson with 10:32 left in regulation.

The Bruins logged half of their first-period shot total (six) in the first three minutes of the second period and halved their deficit at 3:38. After Jake DeBrusk cut into the left circle, Marchand redirected home the centering feed from the low slot.

It took until the third for the Bruins to knot the score, but McAvoy netted his second goal in as many games at the 7:20 mark. David Pastrnak strode down the wing and dished a pass to the slot to set up the defenseman's tying goal.

In the extra session, Zacha grabbed the puck in his own offensive zone and rushed all the way up ice to net an unassisted game winner.

Boston registered the only two shots on net in overtime.

Barkov put Florida on the board first at 6:13, striding down the right wing on a 2-on-1 rush with Reinhart and snapping a shot past Ullmark to the glove side.

Reinhart is only the third player in Panthers history and the first since 1998-99 to score eight goals in his first eight games of a season. He has tallied in six of Florida's last seven contests.

Boston rookie Matt Poitras' turnover behind the net allowed Florida to double its lead when Reinhart took Barkov's backhand pass and beat Ullmark five-hole at the 15:08 mark.

Florida forward Sam Bennett was helped off the ice in the second period and did not return due to a lower-body injury. A lower-body injury kept him out for the first seven games of the season.

Boston lost defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (upper body) about halfway through the first.