Sam Bennett provides spark as Panthers beat Bruins in Game 4, go up 3-1 in series

Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett already had the ire of Boston Bruins fans entering Game 4 of the teams’ second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series on Sunday. It was Bennett one game earlier, three minutes into his first appearance of the series after missing five consecutive playoff games due to a hand/wrist injury, who knocked out Bruins captain Brad Marchand with a hit and apparent punch at center ice — one the Bruins said was intentional but Bennett said was not.

As if Bennett needed any more reason to rile up the Bruins, he scored the game-tying goal early in the third period in controversial fashion to set the Panthers up for their eventual 3-2 win on Sunday at TD Garden. Florida is now up 3-1 in the best-of-7 series and and clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference Final as early as Tuesday when it plays Game 5 in Sunrise.

“Benny’s huge for us,” Panthers forward Anton Lundell said. “He’s been one of the leaders on this team for the last year or so. He’s doing everything he can, shift after shift. He’s hard to play against. He’s great to have on your team.”

Panthers opponents certainly don’t like facing him.

And the Bruins have gotten beyond frustrated with him over the past few days.

In the opening minutes of Game 3, Bennett collided on the boards with Marchand in the neutral zone at the benches. As Bennett braced himself for a hit from Marchand, he swung a right hook at the Bruins captain, who ultimately left that game after two periods and did not play on Sunday.

Boston coach Jim Montgomery pregame Sunday said he took responsibility that his team “didn’t retaliate to some degree” during the game and said the play was “outside the lines.”

“It’s someone that plays the game on the edge,” Montgomery said, “and he knew what he was doing. I don’t know if you’ve seen the picture from behind. But there’s clearly… he loaded up.”

Bennett’s perspective on the accusations?

“It’s one of those plays where he’s coming to hit me,” Bennett said. “I’m trying to brace myself. There’s no way I would have had time to think about punching him in the face like everyone said, but people can have their opinions. I know it definitely wasn’t intentional. I’m bracing myself as he’s coming to hit me, and it’s unfortunate that he got hit. Obviously, he’s a heck of a player and a big part of that team. So it’s unfortunate, but by no means was that an intentional punch in the face.”

Bennett, who was booed basically every time he touched the puck on Sunday, then got the final laugh in Game 4 with his game-tying goal 3:41 into the third period. He got hold of a loose puck and beat Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman to even the score at 2-2. The Bruins challenged for goaltender interference — Bennett looked to have pushed Boston’s Charlie Coyle into Swayman before taking the shot — but the call stood.

The NHL’s statement on the matter: “Video review supported the Referees’ call on the ice that that the shove by Florida’s Sam Bennett on Charlie Coyle and the subsequent contact with Jeremy Swayman did not prevent Swayman from playing his position in the crease prior to Bennett’s goal.”

Bennett said he “wasn’t surprised” the goal stood.

“I think they got the right call,” Bennett said. “I think by the time I’m putting the puck in, [it’s] before Swayman is going to be able to get over there whether Coyle was on him or not.”

Added Panthers coach Paul Maurice: “It had no impact on the play of the game. The contact between the two is not egregious at all. The play just gets finished more than anything else.”

The Bruins, just like with the Marchand collision, had a differing viewpoint.

“We thought that Coyle was on top of our goaltender and if Coyle was able to stand his ground, he would have been able to clear the puck,” Montgomery said. “That inhibited our goaltender from being able to react to playing the puck.”

Added Swayman: “The fact is Coyle was pushed into me and I couldn’t play my position. That’s that.”

Aleksander Barkov then gave Florida the lead about four minutes later on a wrist shot as he was driving to the net after weaving his way past three Bruins defenders.

Lundell scored Florida’s first goal with 5:12 left in the second period when he fired a shot from the left circle on a feed from Evan Rodrigues.

That all erased Florida’s two-goal deficit in the first period after Boston got goals from David Pastrnak on the power play and Brandon Carlo on a point shot through traffic at even strength in the opening frame.

Sergei Bobrovsky settled in after that with perfect second and third periods, stopping all 13 shots he faced in the final 40 minutes.

Florida held Boston to just 18 shots on goal, marking the third consecutive game the Bruins were held to 18 or fewer. It’s just the fourth time in NHL history a team has done that to an opponent in the playoffs, joining the 2001 New Jersey Devils (conference quarterfinals against Carolina), 1998 Ottawa Senators (conference semifinals against Washington) and 1995 Detroit Red Wings (four-game sweep of San Jose in the conference semifinals).

Meanwhile, the Panthers fired off 41 shots on Sunday — at least 13 each period — and has out-shot Boston 107-50 over the past three games.

“We wanted to play the right way,” Barkov said. “We’re trying to spend as much time as possible in their zone and put a lot of pucks at their net. Offense is the best defense. We did a good job at that.”