The Florida Panthers are close to making it back to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row and the third time in their history because they are finding ways to win close games.
Anton Lundell broke a tie with 9:38 left, and the Panthers defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final. The past four games between the teams have been very close, with just one goal separating them. Unlike the previous games, this one didn’t go into overtime.
Gustav Forsling and Sam Bennett also scored for the Panthers, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves to help them win their second straight game in the best-of-seven series.
Bennett mentioned that the Panthers aren’t thinking about returning to the Cup final yet. They are focused on taking it one game at a time, although the experience from last season is helpful.
The Rangers, on the other hand, need to win two games in a row to make it back to the final for the first time since 2014. This is the first time they’ve faced elimination in this season’s playoffs.
The go-ahead goal came after the Rangers lost the puck in the Florida end. Eetu Luostarinen passed the puck to Lundell, whose shot from the right circle beat Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin.
Lundell mentioned that they had several chances before scoring the goal, and they kept pushing until they finally succeeded.
