Wednesday night in Sunrise had the early makings of a sequel to Monday night in Tampa.

Dominated and pinned in their own zone for prolonged stretches, Linus Ullmark and the Bruins were by all means hanging on for dear life. In what felt like shades of last year’s postseason showdown, the Panthers continued to surge with a strong cycle game, and simply peppered the Boston netminder at will.

But as the ice broke Boston’s way with a four-on-four backhand beauty from Charlie Coyle, the Bruins settled and found their game, and simply outlasted the Panthers in a 3-1 victory on Florida ice.

• Tied at 1-1 behind an Anton Lundell strike scored at the 10:33 mark of the second period, the Bruins regained the lead just 41 seconds later. And this time, the response goal came when Johnny Beecher pulled off an insane cut right in front of the Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky and got some help from Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s elbow for a 2-1 B’s lead and Beecher’s third goal of the campaign (and his second goal in as many games).

  Great patience from Beecher 2-1 pic.twitter.com/eTaxNjejck

  — Mr. Tenkrat (@PeterTenkrat) November 23, 2023

  The Bruins built on that lead just minutes later, this time off the stick of Jake DeBrusk, as DeBrusk collected his own rebound and put a second-chance look through Bobrovksy to make it 3-1 Bruins.

  The goal, which was good for DeBrusk’s second goal of the season, came just moments after Ullmark made a downright preposterous left-pad save on Florida’s Kevin Stenlund on an all-alone, net-front look.

• Linus Ullmark (@Icebeardude) stretches across the crease for a huge pad stop! 🙅‍♂️
  
  📺: @NHL_On_TNT & @SportsonMax ➡️ https://t.co/W9mpYG1lMO pic.twitter.com/Xv1pb8IjW4

  — NHL (@NHL) November 23, 2023

• And Ullmark was the story in this one.

  Hit with 28 shots in this contest, Ullmark turned aside all but one, and had a perfect 15-for-15 line in the opening frame, and stopped all six third-period shots thrown his way. There’s no denying that Ullmark had to do the bulk of his work early in this contest, but he was equally huge in the third period when the Bruins needed him to be, especially when the Panthers pulled Bobrovsky for the extra attacker.

  With the win, Ullmark improved to 7-1-1 on the season, and is now 3-0-0 with a .945 save percentage since suffering an ugly loss in Detroit back on Nov. 4.

• 

  Nov 22, 2023; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) moves the puck against the Florida Panthers during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports)

  This was also the Charlie McAvoy game for the Panthers.

  Going up against the Panthers for the first time since McAvoy’s suspension-worthy hit on Oliver Ekman-Larsson, the Panthers targeted McAvoy multiple times out of the gate in this one, with hard hits on Boston’s top defenseman from both Ryan Lomberg and Nick Cousins.

  The Panthers’ issues with McAvoy never rose to the level of a Panther dropping the gloves with McAvoy, but there was a fight in this contest, as Derek Forbort dropped the gloves with Jonah Gadjovich.

  The Bruins will return to action Friday afternoon when they take on the Red Wings in Boston’s annual Black Friday matinee, with puck drop set for 1 p.m. at TD Garden.

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