The Florida Panthers went for a quick knockout on the Bruins on Wednesday but the B’s took their best shot, steadied their legs and came away with a hard-earned 3-1 victory at Amerant Bank Arena.

Linus Ullmark (27 saves) was excellent early on and the B’s made a pair of second period goals hold up for the victory.

The Panthers were without their Selke Award candidate Sasha Barkov but, considering the intensity with which the Panthers started the game, it was a very good win for the B’s after blowing a late lead and losing in Tampa on Monday.

With Charlie McAvoy’s high, late hit on Oliver Ekman-Larson from October 30 still on their minds, the Panthers came out flying and physical, landing a couple of early hits on the B’s defenseman.

Florida dominated the early going and, if not for Ullmark (15 first period saves), the B’s could have been chasing the game from the get-go. But after the Panthers got the first two power plays, the B’s penalty kill slowed down the Florida attack and, rather amazingly, the B’s took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

On a 4-on-4, Danton Heinen dropped the puck in the neutral zone to a speeding Charlie Coyle to create a 2-on-1 with Brandon Carlo. Once in the offensive zone, Coyle went right then left before beating Sergei Bobrovsky with a backhander over the blocker for his seventh of the year with 1:25 left the period.

The B’s got a late power play when Anton Lundell crosschecked Matt Poitras in the jaw after the whistle in front of the Florida net with 59 seconds left in the period. Lundell could have easily gotten a five-minute major but he escaped with just a two-minute high-sticking minor.

The B’s could not make the Panthers and Lundell pay on the truncated PP, and it was Lundell who tied the game at 10:33 of the second.

A long Nick Cousins shot from the blue line firs went off Mason Lohrei’s shin pad and then bounced off Lundell’s skate past Ullmark.

But the B’s got it right back less than a minute later at 11:14. After Bobrovksy stopped Patrick Brown on a breakaway, the Panthers were in scramble mode. The puck came out to John Beecher, who drew out a sprawling Bobrovsky and tried to tuck it into the empty net. He lost the puck but got credit for the goal when it bounced home off a sliding Ekman-Larson. It was his third of the season and second in as many games.

Then, after Ullmark made a tremendous pad save on an all-alone Kevin Stenlund at the top of the crease, the B’s went up by two goals on a score from a very welcome source. Poitras and Jake DeBrusk battled in the corner and DeBrusk came out with it. He took one in-tight shot that Bobrovsky stopped, but he was able to slip home the put-back shot at 14:19. It was just the second goal of the season for struggling DeBrusk, snappin an eight-game goal-less streak.

The B’s had a chance to put the hammer down when Heinen had Bobrosky flat on his belly but he elected to dish it back to a covered Trent Frederic.

But the B’s gave Florida nothing in the third period until coach Paul Maurice pulled Bobrovsky with over two minutes left in regulation. But there would be no late equalizers on this night.