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Bruins host Panthers, shoot for third straight win

Nov 18, 2010 - 4:09 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Bruins hope to collect a third straight victory this evening as they return home to host the Florida Panthers at TD Garden.

Boston's current run of back-to-back wins comes after a span of four losses in five games. After getting blanked at home versus Ottawa on Saturday for a second straight loss, the Bruins shut out the Devils two nights later before last night's 3-2 victory over the Rangers.

Despite allowing the first goal for the sixth time in their last seven games, the Bruins countered with three straight tallies, getting second-period goals from Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin before Mark Recchi's third-period marker.

"It was huge for us, " Lucic said. "We're a much better team when we get the first goal. We didn't lose our composure, we stayed confident and that is what got us through this game. The feeling on the bench was good, nobody got down on themselves."

Tim Thomas made 34 saves to improve to 10-1-0 on the season with a league- leading 1.37 goals-against average and .959 save percentage.

Coaching in his 500th NHL game, Bruins bench general Claude Julien moved into sixth place on the club's all-time wins list with 143 victories. He has won 262 games in his NHL coaching career.

Boston will play its next two games at home, where it has lost three of its last four and is 3-4-1 this season.

The Panthers, meanwhile, have split the first two contests of a four-game road trip to get to 3-6-0 as the visiting club this year. They suffered a 5-2 loss in Philadelphia on Saturday before bouncing back with Wednesday night's 2-1 triumph in Atlanta.

Tomas Vokoun made 38 saves to collect his third straight victory and he has allowed just one goal in each triumph. He made 18 saves in the third period alone last night.

Stephen Weiss and Radek Dvorak scored the goals for the Panthers, who have won four of their last six.

"We knew they were going to come out strong," Florida head coach Peter DeBoer said "I thought they controlled play in the first period. We had a couple of big blocks at key times. It's a good win for us. We did a lot more right than wrong."

Boston's Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell will face their former club for the first time since Florida traded the forwards to the Bruins on June 22 for defenseman Dennis Wideman and a pair of draft picks.

Horton leads the Bruins with eight goals and 15 points after netting 142 markers in his six campaigns with the Panthers.

Florida and the Bruins split four meetings in 2009-10 with both clubs winning twice on the road. Boston has six victories in the last 10 encounters overall, but the Panthers have won two straight and seven of their last nine in Beantown.