Marchand, NHL-best Bruins top Panthers 3-1 in Game 1

April 18, 2023  -BOSTON (AP) — Brad Marchand has had his share of highlight goals in his career. His latest was more of a lowlight for Florida goalie Alex Lyon.

Marchand scored his 50th career playoff goal on a relatively easy shot, David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk also scored, and the NHL-best Boston Bruins opened the playoffs by beating the Panthers 3-1 on Monday night.

“You never know, come playoff time, you never want to pass up a shot,” Marchand said. “That’s just kind of how the playoffs work. Sometimes those shots go in and sometimes they don’t.”

Linus Ullmark, a Vezina Trophy candidate who led the league in wins (40), goals-against average (1.89) and save percentage (.938), stopped 31 shots and Tyler Bertuzzi added two assists for Boston, which controlled the game even with captain Patrice Bergeron sitting out because of illness.

Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Panthers and Lyon made 26 saves — many of them splendid — but gave up Marchand’s goal on the soft shot.