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Panthers complete season sweep of Bruins behind Gratton

Feb 25, 2007 - 5:58 AM SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- If the Florida Panthers played the Boston Bruins more often, they likely would be in a playoff spot.

Chris Gratton scored two goals and set up another and Stephen Weiss added a tally and two assists as the Panthers completed a season sweep of the Bruins with a 7-2 triumph.

Nathan Horton, Martin Gelinas and captain Olli Jokinen each had a goal and an assist and Juraj Kolnik set up three tallies for the Panthers, who outscored the Bruins, 24-10, in the four-game series. Despite the victory, Florida remained 10 points behind Carolina for the final postseason berth in the Eastern Conference.

"Yeah, we match up pretty well against (Boston)," Gratton said. "I wouldn't say it's having another team's number because the circumstances are always different, but it is interesting how things work out against certain teams."

"I guess we would like to play Boston more often," Florida coach Jacques Martin added.

Florida improved to 4-1-2 in its last seven games overall and 10-2-3 in its last 15 at home.

The Bruins, who posted a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday, denied being tired in this one.

"Everybody has to play back-to-back," Boston goaltender Tim Thomas said. "We played Tampa Bay when they had a back-to-back last night. You can't use that as an excuse. For some reason, Florida really has our number. We were hoping to change that coming into tonight's game, but I have to guess they play their best games of the year against us."

The Panthers took control of the game early, scoring three times in the first period and twice midway through the second for a commanding 5-0 lead. Ville Peltonen opened the scoring 4 1/2 minutes into the game, Weiss netted a power-play goal less than three minutes later and Horton added a shorthanded tally in the final minute of the session for a three-goal bulge.

"We played very disciplined in the first period, and it kind of set the tone for the rest of the game," Gratton said. "The guys came out real hard and played aggressively."

"It's disappointing, a little humiliating and embarrassing," Thomas said. "I certainly didn't help out at all at the beginning, when we needed big saves."

Thomas was pulled after allowing three goals on 19 shots in the first period. He was on the losing end of all four game vs. Florida this season, surrendering a total of 18 tallies.

Gratton and Jokinen scored 80 seconds apart in the middle session to increase the lead.

Defenseman Alexei Semenov unleashed a shot that Gratton tipped past netminder Hannu Toivonen at 11:28 of the second for his first goal of the game. He completed his first multi-goal effort of the season at 7:12 of the third, capping the scoring by jamming his own rebound by Toivonen.

Marc Savard and Brad Boyes scored for Boston, which concluded its season-high six-game road trip with a 4-2-0 mark.

"It was a very positive road trip for us at a critical time of the season," Boston coach Dave Lewis said.

Ed Belfour made 25 saves for Florida, which outshot Boston, 52-27. The shot total was the Panthers' second-highest of the season, two shy of their output in a 7-3 win over the Washington Capitals on January 13.