Matthew Tkachuk scored 6:05 into overtime on Wednesday night, as the Florida Panthers staved off elimination with a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins in game five of an Eastern Conference First Round series at TD Garden. Boston still leads the best of seven 3-2, with game six now headed back to Florida.
Boston had a chance to break on the board first, as they had a powerplay just over five minutes into the first period but couldn’t convert. Florida took advantage of a bad Bruins turnover at 8:26 to grab the lead. The puck got batted around near the front of the net and ended up on the stick of Anthony Duclair right in front of goaltender Linus Ullmark, and Duclair deposited his first goal of the playoffs into the cage as the Panthers led 1-0 after 20 minutes.
Brad Marchand tied it in the second period for Boston. On the powerplay, Charlie McAvoy from the right point found an open Marchand near the left faceoff circle. The shot by Marchand was trickling through the legs of Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, and Marchand pounced on it and jammed it into the net at 2:27. Despite being outshot 18-8 in the period, the Panthers were able to take the lead back before intermission. Sam Bennett got a pass in the high slot and fired a shot that was deflected by Bruins forward Nick Foligno that beat Ullmark glove side at 18:52.
Patrice Bergeron, playing in his first game since the regular season finale in Montreal (upper body injury), made his presence felt as he evened the game again. Bergeron tipped home a Marchand shot on the powerplay at 4:33 of the third period. It only took Florida 41 seconds to regain the lead, as Sam Reinhart took a pass from Tkachuk and fired one in from the low slot on the powerplay after a hooking penalty on Jakub Lauko. Despite a huge difference in shots attempted and shots on goal (43-22 in regulation), Boston needed a goal by Taylor Hall that eventually sent the game to overtime. Hall got to a loose puck in the high slot, and took a stride back to fire a hard wristshot that beat Bobrovsky high over the shoulder at 9:16. The Bruins nearly won in dramatic fashion in the closing seconds, as Bergeron won a faceoff and Marchand was able to get to it for a breakaway but Bobrovsky came out and challenged and made a pad save right at the horn. Tkachuk was the benefactor of a Boston turnover by Ullmark in overtime. Ullmark came out and tried to clear the puck away behind his net, but Connor Verhaeghe got to it for the Panthers and shot it off the netminder as he tried to get back in the crease. The shot wasn’t cleanly handled by Ullmark, and Tkachuk had plenty of time to scoop it up and deek it into a half empty net to end it.
Bobrovsky was the star of the game, as he stopped 44 shots in net in the win. Verhaeghe led all skaters with three points (three assists). Tkachuk had the game winning goal and also added an assist. Ullmark had 21 saves, and Marchand had a goal and an assist in the Boston loss. Game six is Friday night at FLA Live Arena with a 7:30 faceoff time.
Story by Chris Lessner/Highlight video courtesy of the NHL website
