On the back of another great performance by Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, the Panthers survive and head back to Florida with a 3-2 series lead. The Panthers are now one win away from sending themselves back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second straight season. Florida came into this game with a clear-cut objective; play patient, physical hockey and force New York to make mistakes. The Rangers came out firing, posting eleven shots in the first period alone. Both Bobrovsky, and Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, looked impenetrable in the first period allowing zero goals. However, the Panthers style of play exposed cracks in the Rangers forecheck that they would end up taking full advantage of.
The scoring started in the second period as Kris Kreider got the Rangers on the board early with a nifty shorthanded goal, his eighth goal of these playoffs. After that goal, a switch flipped with Florida, proven by scoring three unanswered. One of those came midway through the third from 22-year old Anton Lundell, who has blossomed this May as a Panthers superstar. The Panthers forced the issue with physical play, constricting the Rangers offensively, only allowing 16 total shots in the second and third period.
The Rangers were able to close the deficit to one with under a minute left, but they could not force overtime and now find themselves facing elimination. To keep the season alive, the Rangers will have to win back-to-back games, one of those on the road. Game 6 puck drop is Saturday, June 1st at 7:00 PM CT on ABC.
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