Linus Ullmark made 31 saves as the Boston Bruins opened up their First Round Eastern Conference playoff series with a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers at TD Garden.
David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk each scored for the Presidents Trophy winners while Tyler Bertuzzi had two assists in his playoff debut.
"Results matter more than the process right now", Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "When we look at our five-on-five game, we were not very happy with our process. So we can get better there, but the result was really good, and I think the result comes from we had some players play really well, especially our goaltender. ... The intensity of the playoffs, it surprised us a little bit, and I think we had a little bit of nerves."
Boston was without captain Patrice Bergeron, who was ruled out just before the game started because of an illness.
"[Bergeron] was around all day and kind of talked to us before the game", DeBrusk said. "Obviously, such a presence. You could tell that he wants to be out there and he can't wait to get back into the mix. ... We want to do it for him. That was the main goal at the start of the year, and I think its one of those things where we got off on the right foot tonight, but it's really early."
Matthew Tkachuk had the lone goal for Florida while Alex Lyon made 26 saves in his playoff debut for the second wild card.
"I thought our defense, especially early on, did a great job of getting pucks to and through our net', Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "I think we could make a few adjustments on our positioning there to give us just a chance to get some more rebound chances and things, but that part was probably the strength of our game."
Presidents Trophy winners open playoffs with victory despite Bergeron being absent
Pastrnak gave Boston a 1-0 lead less than six minutes into the game while on the power play. Lyon saved David Krejci's initial one-timer, but Bertuzzi was on the rebound, feeding Pastrnak with a backhand, no-look pass that the 61-goal scorer put into an empty net.
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"I don't think there's any question marks about him [Bertuzzi], Marchand said. "He's just one of those guys that you hate to play against. He brings it every night. Like I said, his compete level is through the roof, so (he's) a guy that you knew was going to show up and be a playoff-type player."
Marchand made it 2-0 to the Bruins as his soft wrist shot from above the left faceoff circle went in off the glove of Lyon.
Tkachuk cut the lead in half going backhand to forehand after Eetu Luostarinen's rim around the boards came to him after coming off of Dmitry Orlov.
"There were parts of our game that were good, and I feel like [the Bruins] got a little bit better as it got on", Tkachuk said. "Especially when you have a two-goal lead, it's easier to play. You're playing safer, and they packed it in pretty good on us, but I'm confident in our team, in our game, and seeing a lot of things I think we can hang with these guys."
Game 2 is Wednesday night with puck drop scheduled for 7:30pm Eastern time.