Anton Lundell broke the tie with a deflected shot with 9:38 remaining and the Florida Panthers came close to victory as they returned to the Stanley Cup Final, defeating the New York Rangers 3-2 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals in the Thursday night.
Gustav Forsling and Sam Bennett also scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves to help the Panthers – who lost to Vegas last year in the championship series – win their second consecutive series-best series after losing Games 2 and 3 in the extension.
Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere scored for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves in another magnificent effort. The Presidents’ Trophy winners need to win two straight to return to the finals for the first time since 2014. Mike Zibanejad had two assists.
The Panthers can close out the series on Saturday in Florida. If a seventh game is necessary, it will be at Madison Square Garden, where the Panthers have won twice in this series.
The go-ahead goal came after the Rangers lost the puck in the Florida final. Eetu Luostarien picked up the puck and found Lundell at the Rangers blue line. His shot from the right circle found Shesterkin, although it could have hit the stick of New York defenseman Braden Schneider.
Bennett scored an empty-net goal with 1:52 left and that proved necessary when Lafreniere scored with 50 seconds remaining. The Rangers never got another chance.
Kreider and Zibanejad, who were scoreless in the first four games of the series, combined to give New York the lead with a free kick goal at 2:04 of the second period.
Kreider broke up a Florida play at the blue line, pushed the puck to Zibanejad, then made a return pass entering the offensive zone and beat Bobrovsky with a nifty backhand move, evoking a roar that seemed to make Madison Square Garden shake.
It was Kreider’s eighth goal of the playoffs and the Rangers’ sixth shorthanded, tying the team’s postseason record set in 1978–79. New York reached the Stanley Cup Final, losing to Montreal in five games.
Forsling equalized just over six minutes later, receiving a perfect pass from Bennett and beating Shesterkin with a backhand that the keeper deflected, but not enough to keep it out of the net. It was the defender’s fourth goal and 11th point in the playoffs.
Both teams had big chances in the scoreless first period, with Bobrovsky stopping Filip Chytil and Vincent Trocheck close, and Shesterkin deflecting Kevin Stenlund and getting a little help from a post on Bennett’s backhand from close range.
