Playoff Takeaways: Panthers punch ticket to Eastern Conference Final once again

The Florida Panthers are taking great strides toward burying their awful playoff past.

With a 2-1 road victory in Boston on Friday night, the Panthers are making their second consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference Final.

In their third year of existence, the Cats made an unlikely run to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final. Then, for two decades, they failed to win a single post-season series.

Now, Florida exemplifies the type of grit, skill and determination required to be a repeat participant in the NHL’s final four.

Game 6 of this second-round series seemed destined to end in overtime, until Panthers D-man Gustav Forsling jumped up and whacked home a rebound chance against Bruins brick wall Jeremy Swayman with just 1:33 to go in the third period.

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Somehow, this was Florida’s six straight post-season victory in Boston, having won three in Round 1 last year and three more in this 2024 re-match. The Panthers beat the Bruins en route to the 1996 Cup Final and their big upset of Boston last year catapulted them to the 2023 Final.

Is this win a harbinger of another run to the showdown series? That’s still to be determined, but until the Cats and New York Rangers sort that out, here are some things to take away from Florida’s series-clinching win in Beantown.

Sergei Saves

Everyone expected the Bruins to come out flying, fighting for their playoff lives on home ice. Sure enough, Boston grabbed the lead in the first period when Pavel Zacha — in his 25^th post-season contest — scored his first-ever playoff goal, beating Sergei Bobrovsky with a nice power move to the backhand on a breakaway.

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After that, Bob slammed the door shut.

The Bruins had numerous opportunities to get another puck or two past Bobrovsky in this contest, but the veteran Russian wouldn’t let anything by. Bobrovsky saved his best play for the final two games of this series, posting a .941 save percentage over Games 5 and 6 of the set.

A-plus for Anton

Anton Lundell was an NHL sophomore last year, when the Cats made the Cup Final. He was an important player on the squad, but didn’t exactly have a prolific spring with 10 points in 21 contests.

Still, the heady Finn surely learned a thing or two about playing at the most important time of year and this time out he’s proving to be one of Florida’s most important skaters. Lundell factored in to both of his team’s goals’ on Friday, netting the equalizer just past the midway point of the contest and drawing an assist on Forsling’s late game-winner.

On his own tally, Lundell was lurking in the high slot when Boston failed to gather a loose puck and he basically walked in and blasted a shot past Swayman.

On Forsling’s goal, Lundell put the initial shot in on Swayman, who kicked out a rebound the Florida D-man was able to jump on and swat home.

Lundell, 22, now has nine points in 11 post-season outings this spring. Not bad at all from a third-line centre who’s proving his worth for Florida as it tries to make a second straight Final.

Bark and bite

The end of each round inevitably leads to discussions about who the leading candidates for the Conn Smythe Trophy are. And, when it comes to second season MVP candidates, few guys have the jump on Aleksander Barkov.

The Panthers captain was his usual dominant self against Boston in Game 6, using his big frame to create offence and smother opponents in the defensive zone. Cats fans had to be holding their breath when Barkov left late in the contest with an apparent hand injury, but he returned for the most critical moments of the contest and helped Florida hold of the B’s and push through to the next round.

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Too much to believe

It can be hard to keep your head during the high-stakes action of playoff hockey, but the Bruins have taken brain cramps to a whole new level during this second season with their inability to change cleanly on the fly.

For the seventh time in 13 outings, Boston was nailed for a too-many-men on the ice penalty in Game 6 versus Florida. It came in the third period with the game knotted 1-1. Yes, the Bruins were able to kill the call, but it took them off the attack for two minutes at a critical juncture of the game and had to have coach Jim Montgomery wondering why his club has had so much trouble executing such a routine element of the game this spring.

All East roads run through Florida

The Panthers’ return trip to the final four not only represents a big step for their team, it’s also extends an impressive run by their state. Two NHL teams operate out of Florida and we’re now on a five-year run of either the Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning appearing in the Eastern Conference Final. (Okay, it wasn’t technically the Eastern Conference Final in the pandemic-altered 2021 season, but you get the point).

In fact, dating back to 2018, the Lighting (four times) or Panthers (twice) have now been final four participants in six of seven years.

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