Bruins 5, Panthers 2: Defenseman Torey Krug scored 7:38 into the third period to snap a tie as visiting Boston won its eighth straight contest versus Florida to sweep the five-game season series.

Patrice Bergeron recorded a power-play goal and two assists, blue-liner Andrej Meszaros also scored with the man advantage in his Boston debut and Jarome Iginla recorded his 550th career tally for the Bruins, who have won a season-high five in a row. Chris Kelly added an empty-net goal and Chad Johnson turned aside 20 shots as Boston moved one point ahead of idle Pittsburgh for first place in the Eastern Conference and improved to 7-0-3 in its last 10 road contests.

Boston College product Jimmy Hayes scored twice and Roberto Luongo finished with 37 saves for the Panthers, who have dropped five of their last seven games at home.

With the contest tied at 1-1, Brad Marchand skated up the left wing and used a spin move while backhanding a centering feed to Krug. The defenseman deftly shifted from forehand to backhand before shoveling the puck past Luongo for his 13th goal - and first in 10 games.

Bergeron one-timed a shot from inside the right faceoff circle past Luongo nearly four minutes later to give Boston a 3-1 lead. After Hayes backhanded the puck past Johnson 29 seconds later, Iginla answered in 23 ticks with a wrist shot from the slot for his 20th tally of the season.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Boston LW Daniel Paille was drilled into the boards by Florida captain Ed Jovanovski in the first period and did not return to the contest. ... The Bruins won all nine meetings with teams from the Sunshine State this season. ... Florida celebrated Tim Thomas Bobblehead Night, although the former Bruins goaltender was shuffled to Dallas at the trade deadline on Wednesday.