The Florida Panthers defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 in Game 5 on Thursday to move within one victory of their second consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearance.
The result was the series' fourth consecutive one-goal game, with the previous three requiring overtime.
New York jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second period after a shorthanded goal from Chris Kreider, which marked his and Mika Zibanejad's first points of the series. Gustav Forsling answered for the Panthers later in the period, then Florida took the lead midway through the final frame on a tally from Anton Lundell.
Sam Bennett deposited an empty-netter, which stood as the winner after Alexis Lafreniere made it a one-goal game with 50 seconds remaining.
"We've showed it all playoffs, we battle right to the end," Bennett told Sportsnet after the win. "It wasn't the first period we wanted, but we stuck with it, we played our game. That's just what we've done all year. It's a great effort from us."
Florida head coach Paul Maurice had some high praise for Forsling in particular.
"In his style, he's the best defenseman in the world," Maurice said, per The Athletic's Michael Russo.
The Panthers controlled play for much of the contest, outshooting the Rangers 37-27 while commanding 62.22% of scoring chances and 69.04% of expected goals at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Rangers went 0-for-3 on the power play in Game 5 and are now 1-for-14 in the series.
"We have to capitalize on those chances," New York rearguard Adam Fox said, per NHL.com's Dan Rosen. "Big spots. We have some looks. You don't win games based on getting looks. You have to capitalize."
Game 6 is scheduled for Saturday in Sunrise, and the Rangers know it will take a stronger effort to force a winner-take-all Game 7 at Madison Square Garden.
"Leave it all out there," captain Jacob Trouba said, according to The Athletic's Peter Baugh. "Go win one game. ... When your back's against the wall, everybody's got to bring their best game to survive another day."
Copyright © 2024 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.