Patrice Bergeron scored two goals to help spark the Bruins offense.
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Shawn Thornton celebrates his goal, which gave the Boston Bruins a 3-1 lead.
Right winger Shawn Thornton delivered an insurance goal and center Patrice Bergeron sealed it with an empty netter with 57.2 seconds remaining to lift the Bruins over the visiting Florida Panthers, 4-1 Thursday night at TD Garden.
Thornton swooped in from around the net after his pass redirected off a Panthers' skate blade and poked the puck in for the insurance goal.
Linemates Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell had the assists.
It was just the jolt the Bruins' offense needed as it hadn't scored since Bergeron's first goal at 14:56 of the opening period.
"I think every night we have to bring that, the other parts of the game we can't really control," Thornton said. "When we're out there we have to do whatever we can to create some energy and offensive zone time."
And with Tuesday's third period collapse to the Pittsburgh Penguins fresh on their minds, Thornton's goal was reassuring.
"It was a big win for us, especially after what happened last game, but Florida played well," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said. "I think it was a good challenge. We kind of played with a little bit of hesitation, but then after we simplified our game, we were creating way more chances, and it paid off."
Florida dropped its fifth straight, but kept the sellout crowd of 17,565 at the edge of their seats.
Netminder Tuukka Rask was busy in the first period as the Panthers threw 11 shots on at. He finished with 29 saves for his 14th win.
Panthers goalie Scott Clemmensen had 28 saves.
It was an all-around team effort as Boston received contributions from three of its four lines with the third line the only one left off the scoresheet.
Chara opened the scoring at 3:55 of the first period with a bomb from the left faceoff circle after center David Krejci's one-timer redirected off Clemmensen's pads.
Rask kept it a 1-0 game as he flashed some leather to rob Panthers' center Jonathan Huberdeau.
The Bruins second line continued its consistency.
Tyler Seguin led the rush and found Brad Marchand to his left who then delivered a perfect cross-ice, tape-to-tape pass to Bergeron who gave the B's a 2-0 lead with 5:04 remaining in the first period.
Marchand, Bergeron, and Seguin are the top three point getters on the team with 23, 24, and 21 points, respectively.
Krejci (21) is tied with Seguin.
Boston's only blemish was a short-handed goal allowed to Panthers center Shawn Matthias at 1:38 in the second period.
With 29 seconds remaining on a Boston power-play opportunity, rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton couldn't stretch far enough to handle a pass.
He took a spill while chasing down Shawn Matthias who capitalized short-handed.
NOTES: The Bruins signed prospect Anthony Camara to a three-year, entry-level contract. Camara, 19, is currently playing for the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League. He was Boston's third-round pick in 2011...Claude Julien notched his 246th win behind the Boston bench to take sole possession of second place on the all-time coaching wins list ahead of Milt Schmidt (245).
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