Brandon Montour scored twice as the Florida Panthers evened their Eastern Conference First Round series with the Boston Bruins at a game apiece following a 6-3 victory at TD Garden.
Sam Bennett returned to action for Florida for the first time since March 20 and had a goal while Matthew Tkachuk and Nick Cousins each picked up two assists. Alex Lyon made 34 saves.
The series moves south to Sunrise, where Game 3 will be played Friday night.
"Belief has always been there", Tkachuk said. "We knew it was going to be such a tough task, but to just sit there and give away the series at the beginning of it, that's not how we roll. ... We're confident playing against anybody, and I know before the third, we were talking about 'You gotta win it here, eventually, if we're gonna want to win the series.'
"So, to come up with that effort in the third was really important for our team."
Brad Marchand and Tyler Bertuzzi each scored while Linus Ullmark stopped 24 shots for the Presidents' Trophy winners.
Giveaways were a big problem for Boston as they had 15 as compared to five for Florida.
"I thought for the majority of the first two periods, we were doing really good things with the puck", said Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery. "But the turnovers we had tonight were catastrophic, they were right through the middle of the ice but not typical of the turnovers [we usually have].
"I thought our work ethic was there. I didn't think our execution was great."
Boston was again without captain Patrice Bergeron, who also missed Game 1 because of an illness and was out of this game due to an upper-body injury that reports say will sideline him until Game 5.
Return of Bennett sparks Panthers to series-evening victory
Bennett put the Panthers in front 1:42 into the second period, scoring five-hole after Brandon Carlo turned the puck over to Tkachuk at Boston's blue line.
"It felt great", Bennett said. "It's always tough when you're out for a while, and it was tough watching Game 1 from the press box, but it's definitely great to get right back in it."
After missing 16 games with a groin injury, Bennett's return was a welcome sight for Florida as the forward had 16 goals and a career-high 24 assists.
"Matthew Tkachuk's had a career year, (Eetu) Luostarinen has had a career year, (Carter) Verhaeghe's had a career year, and all three of those guys have played with Sam Bennett for the better part of the year, and that's his strength", Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said.
"He plays so [darn] hard and drvies the play".
Marchand tied things up with the Bruins shorthanded. Tomas Nosek forced Anthony Duclair to turn the puck over to Marchand, who was alone in the high slot.
"We tied it up there and I think we were feeling better about our game", Marchand said. "I think with us, when we're we good we stick to the process, and we just got away from it a little bit tonight.
"So, a little bit self-inflicted in some areas, but we need to be better and they're a really good team."
Eric Staal put the Panthers back in front with a wrist shot from the high slot that beat Ullmark with 5:42 left in the second.
A slice of fortune pulled Boston for a second time as Bertuzzi's one-timer from the right faceoff circle went in off of the skate of Pavel Zacha as a power play was expiring.
Montour put Florida in front for the third time 22 seconds into the final period. He received a pass off the boards to Sam Reinhart and he fired the puck in with a wrister on a 4-on-4.
"Nice 4-on-4", Montour said. "Obviously, we got two [great] players up front there (Reinhart and Aleksandar Barkov) that found me. 'Barky' screened the goalie, I just had to get through, so it was nice to see that one go in."
Bennett hit Charlie McAvoy, knocking the puck free before Tkachuk found a streaking Verhaeghe down the left and he made it a 4-2 game.
Montour stretched it to a 5-2 lead, his slap shot going in after san offensive zone face-off win and Luostarinen scored into an empty net with 2:25 left.
Taylor Hall scored five-hole for the Bruins to complete the scoring.
"There's ups and downs in every series, and that's just playoff hockey", McAvoy said. "So, take it for what it is and turn the page. And that's it, just know we have to be better moving forward."