Florida Panthers one win away from advancing to Stanley Cup Final
The Florida Panthers are one win away from completing their redemption tour to the Stanley Cup Final.
Anton Lundell scored the go-ahead goal with 9:38 to go in regulation to power the Panthers to a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers to take a 3-2 series lead in the Eastern Conference final.
But before thinking about playing the winner of the Western Conference final between Dallas and Edmonton, the Panthers are still focused on the Rangers.
“I don’t think we’ve thought about it at all,” Sam Bennett said after the win. “We’ve got business to take care of still. We’ve got Game 6 at home and our entire focus is on that.”
The Panthers controlled play for most of the third period Thursday night in Madison Square Garden. While Lundell’s goal made the difference, Bennett scored an empty-net goal with 1:52 to go to put the game on ice.
The Rangers' Alexis Lafreniere scored with 49.7 seconds to go, deflecting a Mika Zibanejad shot, but it was too little, too late for the home team.
The Panthers, who fell to Las Vegas in last year's Stanley Cup Final, can close out the conference final Saturday night in Sunrise.
"We have one more win to go," Lundell said. "They are going to come with all energy. We want to play a full 60 minutes."
Chris Kreider opened the scoring for the Rangers with a shorthanded goal 2:04 into the second period off a breakaway via a Matthew Tkachuk turnover. Gustav Forsling tied the game 8:21 into the second period with his fourth goal of the playoffs off a slick feed from Bennett.
Here are three takeaways from Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final:
Panthers penalty kill shuts out Rangers again
One of the biggest storylines of the series has been the Panthers' potent penalty kill and it did not stop on Thursday night. Coming into Game 5, they had allowed one power play goal on 11 penalty kills. They followed that up with a 3-for-3 performance.
Florida has an aggressive penalty kill that closes passing lanes quickly and forces a lot of mistakes. The Panthers frustrated the Rangers, creating opportunities on the other end at times, and it helped swing the momentum.
A big penalty kill with seven minutes to go gave the Panthers the energy to tie the game seconds after it ended and that ended up being the deciding factor.
Florida controls play at 5-on-5
The Panthers dominated play for the majority of the game, controlling play, frustrating the Rangers on the forecheck and wearing them down.
Florida came out of the gate hot for the first seven minutes of the the third period, holding them in their zone for the large majority of it before taking a penalty. After the kill, they took the lead and controlled play for the rest of the game.
“I think that’s the foundation of our playing style,” Aleksander Barkov said. “We want to play defense first, we want to have tight gaps but it’s all about hard work and we just go on the ice and play as hard as possible. You know the guy next to you is going to do the same and we just believe in each other.”
Gustav Forsling continues to be key player in key moments
After scoring the series-clinching goal in Game 6 of the second round, Forsling scored yet another big goal at a big time Thursday night.
More: Five Reasons why Florida Panthers can win the Stanley Cup championship as playoffs near
He jumped onto the rush, found a hole in the slot, and roofed a backhand shot past Igor Shesterkin off of a slick feed from Bennett. But he was even better when he stuck to what he did best.
Forsling has consistently been one of Florida’s best defensemen, killing plays with his stick in the neutral zone and helping shut down the Rangers in crunch time to help the Panthers take a 3-2 series lead.
”He’s been great,” Barkov said of Forsling. “He’s our leader there on the back end and he’s doing everything for us so it’s great to have that type of guy on our team.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Panthers beat New York Rangers, one win from Stanley Cup Final
