Swayman Stands Tall as Bruins Rout Panthers 4-1 in Bad-Tempered Sunday Matinee

The gloves were off before the game had even started, and by the time the first period ended, the Boston Bruins had the game in their pocket. Jeremy Swayman stopped 40 shots, David Pastrnak set up two goals, and the Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 at TD Garden on Sunday afternoon to stretch their winning streak to four.

It took all of a few seconds for the tone to be set. Brady Tkachuk and Nikita Zadorov dropped the gloves straight from the opening faceoff, and the penalties piled up from there — 11 infractions worth 34 minutes in the first period alone. But while Florida spent the afternoon losing its temper, Boston spent it scoring goals.

Elias Lindholm opened the scoring at 4:53 of the first, letting a wrist shot fly from 50 feet out. The puck clipped the skate of Niko Mikkola and slipped past a diving Jacob Markstrom. It was called no goal on the ice, but a lengthy video review overturned the call, and Boston had the lead. Barely a minute later it was 2-0. Mikey Eyssimont, newly recalled from the AHL and riding a scoring run down there, wrapped the puck around the net and jammed in his own rebound for his first goal of the season.

The third goal was the killer. With Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad both in the box, Boston had a five-on-three for nearly two minutes, and Morgan Geekie buried a sharp-angled one-timer from the left circle off a feed from Pastrnak at 15:59. Three goals in the first period, only one of them on the power play, and the Panthers were chasing a game that was already slipping away. Carter Verhaeghe did pull one back late in the period, drilling a feed from Brady Tkachuk past Swayman, but that was as close as Florida ever got.

There was no scoring in the second, but the nastiness never went away. Tkachuk and Eetu Luostarinen picked up 10-minute misconducts at the end of the period. Then, midway through the third, Matthew Tkachuk was thrown out, and his brother Brady soon followed him down the tunnel. By then JJ Peterka had already delivered the final blow, pouncing on a rebound 58 seconds into the third after Markstrom had stopped Pavel Zacha, with Pastrnak finding him for the backbreaker. Four-one, and the rest was just noise.

Swayman was the difference between a comfortable win and a nervy one. Florida threw plenty at him, and he turned aside 40 of the 41 shots he faced for a .976 save percentage and his ninth win of the season. When the Panthers pushed, he was there. It was the kind of afternoon that reminds you why Boston leans on him.

The numbers tell the story of where these two teams stand. Boston is 13-4-1 now, leading the Atlantic Division, winners of four straight. Florida has lost two in a row and three of its last four, and is now 0-4 against divisional opponents. There was one small bright spot for the visitors: the assist on Verhaeghe's goal gave Brady Tkachuk 20 points in 17 games, making him the sixth-fastest player in franchise history to reach 20 career points with the club.

The Tkachuk brothers will not have long to dwell on it. They fly to Toronto with the Panthers' front office for their father Keith's Hockey Hall of Fame induction on Monday, before Florida resumes its road trip in Columbus on Tuesday. Boston, meanwhile, gets a few days to enjoy this one before the Montreal Canadiens come to TD Garden on Thursday.