SUNRISE, Fla. — Tired of losing, the Bruins were hoping the South Florida sun and surf would wash away their troubles.
“You hope so, right?” coach Bruce Cassidy said before puck drop. “Played a lot of hockey recently. Any time you can get down, out of the cold, sit back, put your feet up, it can be good. It can be refreshing.”
It wasn’t 60 minutes of rest and relaxation, but the Bruins snapped their five-game skid, taking a 4-2 victory over the Panthers at BB&T Center. Their first win since Dec. 3 meant they were looking at a four-game homestand with fresh eyes.
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“It looks like we’re getting back to more Boston Bruins’ style of hockey the last three games,” Cassidy said. “Only one win to show for it, but if we play that way this week at home, I see good things for us, especially if all four lines are able to contribute.”
David Pastrnak scored twice, upping his league-leading total to 28. Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci (goal, assist each) gave them some much-needed punch from the second line. More importantly, Boston (21-7-6) avoided another ridiculous Florida comeback.
The Bruins won’t forget the first time they played the Panthers this season. On Nov. 12 at TD Garden, the Bruins led, 4-0, at the second intermission. They lost, 5-4, in a shootout.
No comeback in Sunrise on Saturday, but whatever the Panthers discussed between periods, it had an effect.
After getting it handed to them in the first 40 minutes, the Panthers pushed hard. They solved Jaroslav Halak at 2:46 of the third, when defenseman Mark Pysyk jammed in a backhand rebound from the high slot, finding room around Zdeno Chara.
The Bruins had chances in the third. Pastrnak was awarded a penalty shot on a light hook by Aaron Ekblad, but he couldn’t fool Sergei Bobrovsky (38 saves) with a wrister.
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“Ahh, you know,” Pastrnak said. “Lately it hasn’t been going my way. I tried to shoot, low blocker. I don’t shoot often in shootouts, so I tried it. We got the win, so that was most important.”
It didn’t rattle the Bruins when Halak, extremely sharp through 40 minutes (22 saves), was baffled by Keith Yandle’s tumbling knuckler from the point. It sailed right by his glove with 10:47 left, the Milton native screaming his excitement through his bubble shield.
“As a group, you’re not worried about your own game so much,” Cassidy said. “You’re like, ‘Jaro, I hope that’s one and done’ type of thing, because he’s typically solid.”
But the Bruins tightened up, and Pastrnak made everyone in Black and Gold exhale when he sent home an empty-netter from center ice with 2:10 left. Halak stopped 31 shots.
“Our team knew we were playing the right way,” Cassidy said, “so we didn’t have that anxiety we had the first time around [vs. Florida], when we broke down too often.”
Their game is more solid, more in tune of late. The plane ride home was looking like a happy one.
More Saturday observations from the press box:
■ The first shift of the night for the Bruins was a minute-long possession in the Panthers’ zone by the top line. The Bruins were on their way to their best first period since their five-game losing streak began. Through 40 minutes, few areas of the rink were not under Black-and-Gold control.
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■ At the second intermission, they led, 3-0, and had outshot the Panthers, 32-22. They allowed the Panthers few dangerous chances, and stormed Bobrovsky at the other end. They exited their zone with crafty passes and quick feet. They committed two penalties, but killed them both. They even scored their first power-play goal in three games.
■ The Bruins scored first, after DeBrusk took advantage of a whiff by Anton Stralman on a bouncing puck inside his blue line. At 14:41 of the first, the winger produced the 100th point of his career on a confident finish, flipping a shot upstairs on a quick break-in. He didn’t overthink it, flashing his blade open and shooting over Bobrovsky’s blocker after the netminder extended a poke check.
■ Krejci made it 2-0 with a one-timer from way out high, a blast that had enough gas on it to sneak across the line before Stralman could sweep it away. DeBrusk wheeled up the boards and fed his centerman the puck.
■ Pastrnak, who fanned on a one-timer from his office on the Bruins’ first power play, cashed in on the third at 12:30 of the second. He finished a gorgeous feed from Brad Marchand, who zipped a pass from the circle, through traffic, to a waiting Pastrnak at the far post.
■ The Bruins’ power play, 2 for their previous 27, was on point. The Panthers left seams open — that whiffed Pastrnak one-timer came after Torey Krug found him from the other side of the zone — but the details were sharp. Patrice Bergeron’s stick lift on defenseman MacKenzie Weegar in the slot let Marchand’s dish find Pastrnak at the post. Florida’s PK was 10th in the league coming in.
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■ Charlie Coyle, promoted to Krejci’s right wing, had one of the Bruins’ best chances of the first period, cutting to his backhand on a mini-breakaway some five minutes into the game. Bobrovsky blockered it away. Bobrovsky’s game was lost in the Everglades in October, but he has a .951 save percentage his previous five starts. The Bruins, eager to snap the skid, peppered him with 11 shots in the first nine minutes and 22 total in the opening period.
Follow Matt Porter on Twitter at @mattyports.