Mar 11, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe (23) (left) dumps Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Peeke (52) in the crease during the third period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images
Carter Verhaeghe put a shot off the post that bounced in off of defenseman Andrew Peeke with 25 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Florida Panthers a much-needed 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins.
Verhaeghe's crazy goal came 1:05 after the Bruins tied it with Jeremy Swayman off for an extra attacker.
The Panthers were awarded a quick advantage when Brad Marchand, playing his first game as a visitor at TD Garden, drew a tripping penalty on Tanner Jeannot 33-seconds after initial puck drop.
On the ensuing power play, Marchand would feed out to Anton Lundell, who rang a shot off the iron. Marchand took a swipe at the loose puck before Mackie Samsoskevich banged it home at the 1:01 mark.
Florida would strike early in the second period to go up by two. Luke Kunin lost an offensive zone draw to Fraser Minten, but Jonah Gadjovich was able to whack the puck to A.J. Greer and he beat Swayman from the lower right circle at 2:01.
The Bruins would make a third period push and knot things up with a pair of goals coming just two minutes apart.
Greer would inadvertently trigger the rally by sending an errant pass intended for Jeff Petry off his own end boards, with the carom coming to Viktor Arvidsson. Arvidsson tapped the puck to Casey Mittelstadt, who crossed to Pavel Zacha for the easy put-away 2:46 into the frame.
Zacha would draw the secondary assist on a Boston power-play marker that saw David Pastrnak shift from the left point to the right before threading the puck down low to Elias Lindholm, who deftly tipped it past Bobrovsky.
Marchand would earn his second helper of an emotional night to help the Panthers regain the lead at 9:58. After receiving an outlet pass from Aarom Ekblad, Marchand chipped the puck through the neutral zone to a streaking Eetu Luostarinen. Luostarinen fended off Mason Lohrei and fired a rising shot that caught a piece of the cross bar on its way by Swayman.
Desperate to end its own losing streak, Boston pulled Swayman and equalized via a set faceoff play when Patrnank took a return pass from Charlie McAvoy and ripped a shot that was deflected off of Sergei Bobrvosky by Morgan Geekie. Mittelstadt saucered the rebound back in front and Geekie knocked it into the back of net with 1:31 left on the clock.
On the deciding rush, Sam Bennett did a great job to reel in a crisp stretch pass from Gustav Forsling before centering to Verhaeghe. Verhaeghe pulled Swayman across the crease and then pinged a shot off the far post. The puck ricocheted back in front where Peeke whiffed on it with his stick, which allowed the bouncing disk to hit his skate and find its way into the net, ending Florida's four-game losing streak in shocking fashion.
After scoring just four times in their previous four road games, the Panthers found a way to manufacture four goals to best the Bruins and end the miserable trip with two points. The Cats are back to .500 and will look to build on the victory when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday to open a three-game homestand.