Stanley Cup favorite Boston Bruins open NHL playoffs with win over Florida Panthers

Brad Marchand’s 50th career playoff goal was the ultimate difference maker as the Boston Bruins began their Eastern Conference first-round series with a 3-1 win over the visiting Florida Panthers on Monday night.

Marchand, who tallied at 3:41 of the second period, is the eighth active NHL player with that milestone and joins current team president Cam Neely (55) as the second-ever Bruin to reach that mark.

David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk also scored for Boston, which finished with the most regular-season victories (65) and points (135) in league history.

Tyler Bertuzzi (two assists) became the oldest Bruins player with multiple points in his first career playoff game at 28 years, 52 days old.

Linus Ullmark, who missed Boston’s final regular-season game, made 31 saves in the win.

Brad Marchand (left) scores against the Florida Panthers in the second quarter of the game

The Bruins – huge favorites to lift the Stanley Cup – won 3-1 to take the lead in the series

The Panthers finished with a 32-29 shot advantage. Fifteen of Florida’s shots were in the first period.

The Bruins were playing without captain Patrice Bergeron (illness).

Matthew Tkachuk scored and Alex Lyon stopped 26 shots for Florida.

HURRICANES 2, ISLANDERS 1

Sebastian Aho and Stefan Noesen scored power-play goals to help Carolina open its first-round playoff series with the win.

Antti Raanta finished with 25 saves to lead a defensive effort that saw the Hurricanes turn away every chance the Islanders had with a man advantage.

Ryan Pulock beat Raanta early in the second period for the Islanders, a big goal coming moments after Carolina had taken a 2-0 lead on Noesen´s score. But that ended up being the last time either team would find the net, setting up a third-period grind to the final horn.

Ilya Sorokin finished with 35 saves for the Islanders.

Antti Raanta (left) and Paul Stastny (right) celebrate their win over the New York Islanders

Still to come:

Minnesota Wild vs Dallas Stars

Los Angeles Kings vs Edmonton Oilers