The Florida Panthers stunned the Boston Bruins with a 4-3 overtime win in Wednesday’s Game 5, defiantly avoiding what could have been the first elimination of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Matthew Tkachuk‘s goal at 6:05 of overtime gave new life to the Panthers, who had dropped consecutive games at home — games in which Boston was without its top two centers — to fall behind 1-3 in the best-of-seven series.
“We were supposed to get swept this series, right? Everyone was saying,” said Tkachuk, who had two points in the win. “I don’t think anybody really gave us a chance after losing two games in a row at home. Coming here, it just seemed like the series was over before the game even started.
“Now they’re coming down to Florida. We know there can’t possibly be a Game 7 in their mind right now, and everybody here in Boston’s minds. So it’s up to us to see you guys back here in a few days.”
Game 6 is Friday night.
Boston entered the postseason as the top seed in the Eastern Conference after setting new NHL records for wins (65) and points (135) in a single season. Florida was the second wild-card team in the East.
The Bruins failed to close out the series due to a few uncharacteristic miscues, including on the game-winning goal in overtime.
Goalie Linus Ullmark had a miscommunication with his defenseman and turned the puck over to Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe, whose quick shot Ullmark kicked to the slot. Tkachuk collected the puck and, with Ullmark on his back, maneuvered around the Bruins defenders to score the game winner.
“I thought we had really good offensive zone pressure. We tried to move the puck over to the defenseman but we had made a change so the puck went all the way down. We just had a mishandle on our goalie/defenseman communication on the puck and it ended up getting jacked into our net,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said.
The Panthers’ other win in the series was a 6-3 victory at TD Garden in Game 2.
“We tend to make big mistakes right now. I don’t know why, but the last two games at home we don’t manage the ice or manage the puck, it’s one of the two,” Montgomery said.
The Panthers took the lead at 8:26 of the first period on another uncharacteristic turnover by Boston. Forward Tyler Bertuzzi sent the puck in front of his own net, where it was intercepted by Verhaeghe. He sent a pass from behind the goal line to a cutting Anthony Duclair, who smacked it down to the ice and into the net.
“For us to come out with the start we did speaks a lot about our team, our preparation and our belief in each other,” Tkachuk said.
The Bruins tied the game on the power play at 2:27 of the second period. With Sam Bennett in the box for holding, defenseman Charlie McAvoy found Brad Marchand alone in front of Sergei Bobrovsky. The goalie saved the initial shot but Marchand’s second effort knotted the game at 1-1.
But with 1:08 left in the second period, Florida struck again thanks to Verhaeghe. He found Bennett in the slot for his third goal of the playoffs.
The game marked the return of Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron, who missed the first four games of the series after suffering an upper-body injury in the team’s regular-season finale at Montreal on April 13. Boston continues to be without second-line center David Krejci, who missed his third straight game.
Bergeron made his presence felt at 4:33 of the third period, tipping home a Marchand pass for a power-play goal. But Sam Reinhart responded just 41 seconds later with a power-play goal of his own, after Boston’s Jakub Lauko took a holding penalty on Tkachuk just 6 seconds after Bergeron’s goal. Tkachuk assisted on the Reinhart goal to make it 3-2.
The Bruins roared back to take the lead thanks to another strong play by Taylor Hall. After defenseman Brandon Carlo fired the puck from the left post, Hall collected the rebound. Instead of shooting immediately, he skated back in the slot and then sent the puck past Bobrovsky. Hall now has five goals and three assists in the postseason.
In the waning seconds of regulation, Bobrovsky stopped Marchand on a breakaway to preserve the tie and give the Panthers a chance to win in overtime. Bobrovsky made 44 saves for his first win of the series.
Montgomery said the Bruins spent too much energy chasing the lead during regulation and didn’t think they were sharp in the overtime period as a result.
“Our effort was good. But it’s really hard to win that fourth game,” Montgomery said. “We’ll regroup tomorrow and see if we can get the job done on Friday that we didn’t get done tonight.”
Bobby Jenks, a two-time All-Star pitcher for the Chicago White Sox who was on the roster when the franchise won the 2005 World Series, died Friday in Sintra, Portugal, the team announced.
Jenks, 44, who had been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a form of stomach cancer, this year, spent six seasons with the White Sox from 2005 to 2010 and also played for the Boston Red Sox in 2011. The reliever finished his major league career with a 16-20 record, 3.53 ERA and 173 saves.
“We have lost an iconic member of the White Sox family today,” White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “None of us will ever forget that ninth inning of Game 4 in Houston, all that Bobby did for the 2005 World Series champions and for the entire Sox organization during his time in Chicago. He and his family knew cancer would be his toughest battle, and he will be missed as a husband, father, friend and teammate. He will forever hold a special place in all our hearts.”
After Jenks moved to Portugal last year, he was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. That eventually spread into blood clots in his lungs, prompting further testing. He was later diagnosed with adenocarcinoma and began undergoing radiation.
In February, as Jenks was being treated for the illness, the White Sox posted “We stand with you, Bobby” on Instagram, adding in the post that the club was “thinking of Bobby as he is being treated.”
In 2005, as the White Sox ended an 88-year drought en route to the World Series title, Jenks appeared in six postseason games. Chicago went 11-1 in the playoffs, and he earned saves in series-clinching wins in Game 3 of the ALDS at Boston, and Game 4 of the World Series against the Houston Astros.
In 2006, Jenks saved 41 games, and the following year, he posted 40 saves. He also retired 41 consecutive batters in 2007, matching a record for a reliever.
“You play for the love of the game, the joy of it,” Jenks said in his last interview with SoxTV last year. “It’s what I love to do. I [was] playing to be a world champion, and that’s what I wanted to do from the time I picked up a baseball.”
A native of Mission Hills, California, Jenks appeared in 19 games for the Red Sox and was originally drafted by the then-Anaheim Angels in the fifth round of the 2000 draft.
Jenks is survived by his wife, Eleni Tzitzivacos, their two children, Zeno and Kate, and his four children from a prior marriage, Cuma, Nolan, Rylan and Jackson.
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — The New York Yankees, digging for options to bolster their infield, have signed third baseman Jeimer Candelario to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the affiliate announced Saturday.
Candelario, 31, was released by the Cincinnati Reds on June 23, halfway through a three-year, $45 million contract he signed before the start of last season. The decision was made after Candelario posted a .707 OPS in 2024 and batted .113 with a .410 OPS in 22 games for the Reds before going on the injured list in April with a back injury.
The performance was poor enough for Cincinnati to cut him in a move that Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall described as a sunk cost.
For the Yankees, signing Candelario is a low-cost flier on a player who recorded an .807 OPS just two seasons ago as they seek to find a third baseman to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base, his natural position.
Candelario is the second veteran infielder the Yankees have signed to a minor league contract in the past three days; they agreed to terms with Nicky Lopez on Thursday.
Snell and Treinen each faced hitters Saturday, and Snell pitched two innings. Each could begin a rehab assignment after the All-Star break.
The 32-year-old Snell has pitched in two games for the Dodgers following his five-year, $182 million free agent deal after spending last season with the San Francisco Giants and three before that with the San Diego Padres. He is a two-time Cy Young Award winner.
“(Snell) looked good. He looked really good,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I don’t know what the velo was but the ball was coming out really well. He used his entire pitch mix. I thought the delivery was clean, sharp, so really positive day.”
The Dodgers’ starting rotation has been injury-prone this season but is starting to get a boost from Shohei Ohtani, the two-way superstar who is working as an opener in his return from elbow surgery.
Treinen is looking to get back to his role in the back end of the bullpen. He threw one inning Saturday.
“Blake Treinen I thought was really good as well,” Roberts said. “Both those guys should be ready at some point in time shortly after the All-Star break.”