Anton Lundell’s go-ahead goal with 9:38 left in the third period propelled the Florida Panthers to 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden and put the Cats one win away from a second straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Rangers played one of their better stanzas of the series, but Sergei Bobrovsky was up to the task making 11 first period saves to weather somewhat stormy seas.
Florida had chances to open the scoring as well, with Sam Bennett coming closest when he shoveled the puck past Igor Shesterkin, but caught the far post.
Florida would make a mess of a power-play chance early in the second to allow the Rangers to take the lead.
In the midst of change, instead of getting the puck deep or circling back, Matthew Tkachuk tried to force a pass to the left wing, which was picked off by Chris Kreider. Kreider tapped the puck to Mika Zibanejad, who sent it back to Kreider and he broke in on Bobrovsky and made the lamp-lighting deposit on the backhand. A really poor decision by Tkachuk, and Sam Reinhart could’ve done more defensively there. Why not pull Kreider down and take a chance that’ll only be a minor penalty? Even a penalty shot gives Bobrovsky a chance to mentally ready himself.
After coming close to scoring in the first, Bennett would craft the game-tying goal by looking off Alexis Lafrenière and then slipping a perfect pass to Gustav Forsling, who skated right up the gut and backhanded a shot off Shesterskin’s pad and in. The second assist on the goal went to Aaron Ekblad. He broke up a New York foray and got the puck to Bennett.
The Panthers continued its run of third period dominance and finally forged ahead at the 10:22 mark. Jack Roslovic’s shot from a sharp angle pinged off Bobrovsky and came right to Eetu Luostarinen. The lanky winger lugged the puck up ice and sent a pass under Vladimir Tarasenko’s stick to Anton Lundell as the rushing trio crossed the blue line. Tarasenko drove to the net while Lundell took measure of Shesterkin and beat him with a wrister from the left circle that caught the goaltender’s hip and found just enough space between his body and arm to get through. A Finnish finish!
Bennett would provide a needed insurance marker at 18:08 with an unassisted empty-netter that was anything but routine. First winning a 50/50 puck from Zibanejad, who threw his head back to try to draw a penalty, at center, Bennett maneuvered around Vincent Trocheck and then shot the puck past Adam Fox with authority to give the Cats a two-goal advantage.
The Rangers would pull Shesterkin a second time and halve the deficit when a Kreider centering feed somehow got through Luostarinen and a broken stick laying on the ice and found Zibanejad, who had just rejoined the play after getting a new twig from the bench. Zibanejad’s shot was off the mark, but it struck Lafrenière’s skate and ricocheted into the back of the net with fifty seconds left on the clock.
Florida would blanket the Rangers the rest of the way, killing off the remaining time to take a 3-2 series lead back to Sunrise for Game 6 on Saturday night. YES!
Bulls & Bears
- First Star Anton Lundell’s marker was his first goal of the Eastern Conference Final and Eetu Luostarinen picked up his first point of the this round with the primary helper. Lundell hadn’t scored since Game 6 of the Boston series and Luostarinen hadn’t collected a point since May 10. Way to come through in a big spot.
- Sergei Bobrovsky delivered another quality start (25 saves) and became the first goalie to reach 11 wins this postseason. Bobrovsky has quietly held the opposition to two or less goals in nine of the last ten games.
- Sam Bennett delivered his first multipoint performance since his hand injury in Game 2 of the first round. Bennett now has five goals and nine points in 11 games.
- Chris Kreider (1G/1A) and Mika Zibanejad (2A) finally got their first points of the series while Artemi Panarin is still seeking his first goal.
- After getting outshot 11-8 in the first period, the Cats outshot the Rangers 29-16 the rest of the way. The Panthers led 18-7 in high-danger shot attempts at 5-on-5.
- Spend a New York minute at Blueshirt Banter for the sadder side of Game 5 as the Rangers finding themselves trailing for just the second time in these playoffs.