Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 41: Lundell’s go-ahead goal proves to be difference maker as Panthers push Rangers to the brink

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 41: Lundell’s go-ahead goal proves to be difference maker as Panthers push Rangers to the brink
Credit: © Brad Penner

After both the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers split the games during their stints at home, we’re back in Madison Square Garden for what is now a best-of-three series with it tied at two-a-piece. With a series that’s been back and forth through four games, how would the pendulum swing in Game 5?

For a while, it didn’t swing either way. Both teams traded chances in the first period, and both even got a power play to try and open the scoring, but neither team could get the puck in the net.

When the Panthers had a power play early in the second, it looked like it might be their chance to be the first team to score. But when Matthew Tkachuk turned the puck over towards the blueline, that resulted in a breakaway for Chris Kreider, who deked around Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Rangers the 1-0 lead.

Later in the period, the Panthers also managed to break through and get on the board. Sam Bennett entered the Rangers zone with the puck, and made an excellent feed to Gustav Forsling, who had no one covering his lane to the net, and he roofed an excellent backhander past Igor Shesterkin to tie the game.

That was all we’d see in terms of goals in the second, and just like a lot of this series, we seemed to be in for a low-scoring affair. With so few goals to go by, it looked like the next goal was going to be the decisive one, especially as the clock ticked away in the third period. So when Anton Lundell broke the tie midway through the period with a well-placed wrist shot, there seemed to be a strong chance that it would hold for the win.

Obviously it’s only a one-goal game, so the Rangers still only needed one shot to get this game tied. They pressed for the tying goal, but the Panthers stifled them until Bennett seemingly sealed the deal with the empty net goal to make it 3-1. New York did get one back with 50 seconds to go courtesy of Alexis Lafreniere, but that was all they could muster for a comeback.

The Panthers finished the game with a 3-2 win, and also take a 3-2 lead in the series as they return home to finish off the series there. Bennett and Mika Zibanejad were the lone players with multi-point performances, partially because it was an excellent goalie duel with Shesterkin stopping 34 of 36 shots and Bobrovsky stopping 25 of 27.

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