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Bruins start up lengthy swing versus Panthers

Dec 27, 2010 - 4:19 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Bruins will begin their longest road trip so far this season when they visit the Florida Panthers tonight at BankAtlantic Center.

Boston kicks off a five-game road trip tonight and will also make stops in Tampa, Atlanta, Buffalo and Toronto during this trek. It will be the Bruins' second-longest trip this year after a six-game excursion from Feb. 17-March 1. All told, Boston will play seven of its next eight games as the visitors.

The Bruins recently posted a 2-1-0 record on a three-game homestand, but despite a respectable 9-5-1 road mark this year, Boston has lost three straight and five of its last seven away from Beantown.

Boston's hasn't played since before the league's Christmas break when it notched a 4-1 triumph Thursday night against Atlanta. Shawn Thornton scored a pair of goals and Tim Thomas made 26 saves to lead the Bruins to the win at TD Garden.

Patrice Bergeron added a goal with one assist, and Michael Ryder also tallied for the Bruins, who had dropped four out of five coming into Thursday's contest.

"It's what we needed right now to turn things around," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Now we get a chance to bottle that up and bring it on the road."

Boston enters tonight trailing idle Montreal by just two points for the top spot in the Northeast Division.

The Panthers, meanwhile, have won four of their last five tilts and Florida enters tonight eight points behind Boston for the eighth and final postseason berth in the Eastern Conference.

Of course, Florida has the longest current playoff drought in the NHL, having not qualified for the postseason since 2000.

The Panthers had a two-game win streak halted this past Wednesday with a blowout loss in Pittsburgh, but Florida rebounded with a close win the following night in Buffalo.

Jason Garrison scored the game-winning goal late in the third period to help lift the Panthers to a 4-3 win at HSBC Arena. The win was anything but pretty as Florida grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first period only to allow the Sabres tie the game with three scored in the second.

"Instead of playing to win the game, we started playing to hold the lead," Florida coach Peter DeBoer said. "We've done that before and that doesn't work for us."

Chris Higgins tallied twice and Stephen Weiss added a goal and an assist for the Panthers. Tomas Vokoun turned aside 45 shots, including all 19 he faced in the final period, to earn the win for Florida.

While the Bruins are beginning a lengthy road trip tonight, Florida is kicking off a three-game homestand that will also feature tests against Montreal and the New York Rangers. The Panthers are just 7-6-0 as the host this season.

Boston has won the first two of four meetings against the Panthers this season and has outscored Florida by a combined 7-1 margin in those games.

The Bruins have won four of five, five of seven and seven of the last 10 meetings between the clubs overall and Boston has taken three in a row and six of seven in south Florida.