There will be no Game 7! Gustav Forsling’s goal with 1:33 left in regulation lifted the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden, or should we call it Amernat Bank Arena North?
After waiting for his teammates to catch up, Matthew Tkachuk hit Forsling in stride allowing the Panthers to gain the offensive zone. Forsling dished to Anton Lundell and went to the net. Lundell snapped off a rising shot that Jeremy Swayman couldn’t contain, and the rebound came to Forsling, who put the puck through the legs of Parker Wotherspoon and between the blocker and pad of Swayman to eliminate the game Bruins on their home ice for the second straight season.
In addition to drawing the primary assist on the series winner, Lundell tied the game 12:44 into the second. After Lundell sent him a crisp outlet pass, Carter Verhaehghe crossed the blue line and cut into shooting position, only to have his attempt blocked by Jake DeBrusk., Verhaeghe was eventually able to stab the loose puck, which sat between a few Bruins, to Lundell, who beat Swayman from between the cirles.
Boston’s only goal against Sergei Bobrovksy came with 53 seconds left in the first period. Thanks to Brandon Carlo dropping Verhaeghe with a hard check, Wotherspoon was able to advance the puck up the boards to DeBrusk, who crafted a beautiful no-look backhand pass that just eluded the stick of Aleksander Barkov and ended up on the blade on Pavel Zacha. Zacha broke in on Bobrovsky, and after the goalie’s poke-check attempt whiffed, went upstairs on the backhand for his first career playoff goal.
Bobrovsky was sensational throughout, with his breakaway save on David Pastrnak, who he frustrated all night, 22 ticks into the middle frame keeping his team down by one. A huge moment in the game.
Swayman’s efforts got a lot of press, but Bobrovsky was every bit as good, and even better in this one, finishing with 22 stops to earn his seventh career series-clinching win. After giving up four goals in Game 1, Bobrovksy limited the Bruins to just eight goals over the remainder of the series.
Another griity road effort from the Panthers, who won for the sixth straight time in the playoffs at TD Garden. They advanced to the Eastern Conference Final where they will take on the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers. The last time these two teams met in the postseason was 1997, when the Rangers won it five games. Should be a barnburner.
Tea & Honey
- Gustav Forsling’s series-winning goal and stellar defensive play earned him First Star honors. He matched David Pastrnak with a game-high five shots while logging a team-high 25:16 of ice time. Forsling is the first defenseman in franchise history to score a series-clinching goal.
- Forsling’s marker came shortly after Aleksander Barkov’s gusty shot block on Pastrnak with the palm of his left hand. Barkov led all Cats forwards with 22:52 TOI and was credited with three shots, two blocks and a hit.
- Anton Lundell finished with a goal and assist for the second time in the series, he also did it in Game 4, to spark the Panthers offensively. Lundell’s production was huge as Florida’s big guns were largely silent on this night.
- Jeremy Swayman almost got his team to Game 7, stopping 26 of 28 shots after saving 28 of 29 in Game 6.
- Both teams penalty kill were on point as the Panthers went 0-for-3 on the power play while the Bruins went 0-for-2 with the man-advantage.