Bruins Rally to Beat Panthers

Marco Sturm scored the only goal of the shootout after the Boston Bruins rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit to beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 on Thursday night.

Boston goalie Alex Auld replaced starter Tim Thomas after the second period and stopped Steve Montador, Nathan Horton and Olli Jokinen in the shootout.

Sturm, Dennis Wideman, Zdeno Chara and Phil Kessel scored in regulation for the Bruins, who are 5-0-1 in their last six road games.

Jay Bouwmeester, Montador, Rostislav Olesz and Kamil Kreps scored for the Panthers, who have lost three in a row and five of six. The Panthers gave up goals in the final minute of their previous two losses, at Carolina and Pittsburgh.

The Panthers led 4-2 after two periods despite being outshot 30-12. Boston finished with a 48-27 advantage in shots on goal.

Boston tied it midway through the third period with two goals in a span of 1:38.

Chara scored on a power play at 13:10 when he one-timed a cross-net pass from Sturm. Kessel then beat Tomas Vokoun, who made 44 saves, with a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle at 14:48.

Florida scored three times on seven shots in the second period to extend their 1-0 lead. Kreps scored the final goal with 0.8 seconds left when he beat Thomas on a 2-on-1 with a wrist shot to the short side.

Thomas, who came in second in the NHL with a .926 save percentage, was pulled after giving up four goals on 12 shots.

The Panthers broke a 1-all tie with two goals in 2:39 midway through the second period.

Montador scored at 9:32 when he took a centering pass from Olesz in the slot and beat Thomas low to the glove side.

Then after Boston's Marc Savard hit the post with a shot from a sharp angle, Olesz increased Florida's lead at 12:11, beating Thomas with a wraparound goal after holding on to the puck on a 3-on-2 rush.

Wideman made it 3-2 at 16:13 when Wideman beat Vokoun with a slap shot from the point on a power play.