The Florida Panthers are on the brink of reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the second consecutive year and the third time in franchise history, thanks to their knack for winning close games.
Anton Lundell broke a tie with 9:38 left, leading the Panthers to a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final. The last four games have all been decided by one goal, but unlike the previous three, this one didn't require overtime.
Gustav Forsling and Sam Bennett also scored for the Panthers, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves. The Panthers, who lost to Vegas in last year’s final, have now won two straight in this best-of-seven series.
Bennett noted that the team isn't talking about returning to the Cup final yet. Their focus remains on taking one game at a time, although the experience from last season is beneficial.
I think it helps a lot, Bennett said.Just to know the grind. How hard it is. How much it takes to have success — to make it this far — it takes a lot. We learned a lot last year.
Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere scored for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves in another impressive performance. The Presidents’ Trophy winners need to win the next two games to reach the final for the first time since 2014. Mika Zibanejad contributed two assists.
The Panthers can clinch the series on Saturday in Florida. If a seventh game is necessary, it will be played at Madison Square Garden, where the Panthers have already won twice in this series.
This is the first time the Rangers have faced elimination in these playoffs.
There is nothing to say,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “Your back is against the wall. We have to bring our best game to survive another day
The decisive goal came after the Rangers lost the puck in Florida's end. Eetu Luostarinen retrieved it and passed to Lundell at the Rangers' blue line. Lundell's shot from the right circle beat Shesterkin.
Although it appeared the puck was deflected, many Panthers credited veteran Vladimir Tarasenko for attempting to tip the puck in front of Shesterkin, which they thought might have distracted the goalie.
“We had chance after chance and just kept grinding,” said Lundell, who, along with Luostarinen, was stopped by Shesterkin on close-range shots earlier in the period. “We had some great chances. Finally, we got the goal.”
Bennett added an empty-net goal with 1:52 left, which proved crucial when Lafreniere scored with 50 seconds remaining. The Rangers couldn't manage another shot after that.
As the emotion increases in this series — the closer you get to the end, every single play, small play counts, said Florida coach Paul Maurice, whose team blocked 17 shots and had only one giveaway.
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette remarked on the tightness of the series.
We need to capitalize on some of the ones (chances) that we did generate and we weren’t able to do that tonight,” he said. “It was like I said, it was tight. The game was tight. I thought we had looks and I thought we had chances and they didn’t go in. Came down to one goal. So it’s a 2-1 game.
Kreider and Zibanejad, who were scoreless in the first four games of the series, combined to give New York the lead with a shorthanded goal at 2:04 of the second period.
Kreider intercepted a Florida play at the blue line, passed the puck to Zibanejad, then received a return pass entering the offensive zone and beat Bobrovsky with a deft backhand move, prompting a roar that shook Madison Square Garden.
It was Kreider’s eighth goal of the playoffs and the Rangers’ sixth shorthanded goal, tying the team’s postseason record set in 1978-79. New York went on to the Stanley Cup Final that year, losing to Montreal in five games.
Forsling equalized a little over six minutes later, converting a perfect pass from Bennett and beating Shesterkin with a backhander that the goalie deflected but couldn’t stop. It was Forsling's fourth goal and 11th point of the playoffs.
Both teams had excellent chances in the scoreless first period, with Bobrovsky stopping Filip Chytil and Vincent Trocheck in close, and Shesterkin turning aside Kevin Stenlund and getting help from the post on Bennett’s point-blank backhander.
READ ALSO: Reinhart in OT foils Shesterkin brilliance, Panthers tie series at 2 apiece
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