SUNRISE, Fla. — There was little else that needed to be said.

When asked what he saw in Monday night’s game between the Bruins and Panthers, a game that need three hours and most of overtime before a winner was decided, Tuukka Rask said, “A lot of rubber.’’

He had seen 51 shots on goal by the Panthers, who made a comeback from three goals down to tie the Bruins and force overtime.

Ultimately, though, the Bruins survived, getting a second point as Lee Stempniak made the deciding shot at 4:00 of the extra session, giving the Bruins the 5-4 win and Claude Julien his record-setting 388th win with the franchise.

“He did come up with some big saves, the number of shots we gave him, the power plays that they had,’’ Julien said. “They had some great looks there on the power play and he made some big saves for us. Certainly one of the guys that was good for us was our goaltender.’’

By the end of the first period in the potential playoff preview, not only had the Bruins outscored the Panthers, so had Patrice Bergeron. But with 4:43 left in the third period, the Panthers had caught up on Jiri Hud­ler’s second goal of the night.

That came after the Bruins fell apart in the second period, allowing 18 shots on goal — and two goals — while notching only five shots themselves. They allowed the Panthers the run of the ice for the entirety of the first half of the period, and long past that.

“In the second, we stopped skating,’’ defenseman Zdeno Chara said. “They took over, and any time you stop skating and moving the puck and being strong on the puck and making smart plays, the other team is going to take advantage, especially a team like we played tonight.

“When you start the second period and after about 10 minutes you don’t have a shot on net, their zone is clear as if they had just done the ice and our zone is totally [ripped up] from skating, then you know something is wrong.’’

After the Bruins defense had vastly improved in the last three games, the group played without Kevan Miller, who was injured over the weekend.

They let up. They let the Panthers take control.

“I liked the pace, I liked how well we were moving the puck, but I didn’t like our play on the other side of the puck,’’ Julien said. “We talked about it and it didn’t get any better in the second, we actually lost our offensive game, too. Really, one of the worst periods I think I’ve seen in a long time from our hockey club.’’

Bergeron notched two goals in the first period — his 27th and 28th of the season — as the Bruins built up a three-goal lead, giving the alternate captain five goals in his last four games. They had gotten goals at 0:34 (Bergeron), 7:00 (David Pastrnak), and 12:22 (Brett Connolly). After Aleksander Barkov put the hosts on the board at 16:48, Bergeron scored again at 17:25.

Barkov’s goal came off a rebound allowed by Rask, and was challenged by the Bruins for goaltender interference. They lost, a decision that still puzzled Rask after the game.

“I thought it was pretty clear,’’ Rask said. “His stick was right between my legs and I couldn’t get my pad down.’’

Still, the Bruins went into the second having a three-goal lead, and having knocked out Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo, who was replaced by Al Montoya.

It was then that the Panthers’ comeback started. The Panthers got their second goal at 3:15 of the second, on a cross-ice pass from Jonathan Huberdeau to Hudler. And they got their third at 6:08, after a Bruins penalty for too many men on the ice, as Jussi Jokinen took advantage of a screen of Rask by Chara.

The danger continued at the end of the second period and beginning of the third, after David Krejci was called for a double minor with 59.3 seconds left in the period. But the Bruins managed to kill the full four minutes, with Rask coming up big multiple times, no bigger than 1:50 into the third on a shot by Hudler.

Montoya had a much less daunting task. The backup ended up allowing just one goal in the 16 shots he saw. But that one goal gave the Bruins 2 points, allowing them to tie the Panthers (who have one game in hand) in the division standings.

It also meant that, with a win Tuesday against the Lightning, the Bruins could pass the Lightning (who also have a game in hand) for first place.

And that was due to the first goal by Stempniak in a Bruins uniform.

“When you look at the goal he scored tonight, it was such a great shot, I don’t think too many goaltenders could have stopped that,’’ Julien said. “He came up big for us.’’

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @amaliebenjamin.