BOSTON — The Boston Bruins’ season has come to an end.
The Panthers scored the game-winning goal with 1:33 left in the third period to give Florida the eventual 2-1 win and a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Rangers. This is the second straight year the Panthers eliminated the Bruins from the playoffs.
The Bruins came out hot and were all over the Panthers in the opening minutes, putting the first four shots on goal of the game. Things started to slow down a bit on Boston’s power play, though, and Jeremy Swayman made a big stop on a shorthanded bid. From there, the Bruins struggled to put pucks on net, allowing Florida to have the next nine. The best scoring chance for the Panthers came on a wraparound from Anton Lundell that Swayman was ready for.
Boston went 14:11 without a shot, and Pavel Zacha’s 19 playoff games without a goal came to an end when he scored with 52.8 left in the first with help from Jake DeBrusk with an impressive pass that somehow bounced right to Zacha to put Boston up 1-0.
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Boston began the second period by making NHL history with its seventh too-many-men penalty in 13 playoff games. The previous record was six. The Bruins killed it off to keep the Panthers off the board. The Bruins had their chances to double the lead — including a David Pastrnak breakaway and a Charlie McAvoy backhand that went just wide — but were unable to capitalize.
The Panthers finally found the back of the net on a Boston defensive zone turnover that Lundell jumped on to tie the game at 1-1 with 7:10 left in the period.
The game remained knotted at one after 40 minutes with the Panthers holding a 20-14 edge in shots.
The Bruins struggled to break the puck out of their own zone in the opening minutes of the third and struggled to get shots on net — just two in first seven minutes. They began to play with a little more momentum and and taking pucks to the net. McAvoy tried to stuff it past Sergei Bobrovsky on the doorstep, but was unsuccessful on the attempt.
McAvoy took a roughing penalty with 6:04 left to play and the game still tied, but the Panthers took a penalty of their own with 23 seconds remaining on their man-advantage when Evan Rodrigues was whistled for tripping up Johnny Beecher. But the power play remained unsuccessful for both sides.
But with 1:33 left to play, it was Gustav Forsling to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead and eventual win.
