Connect with us

Published

on

The Florida Panthers waited out the Boston Bruins in their second round Stanley Cup playoff series.

And patience paid off.

The Panthers and Bruins were knotted 1-1 in Game 6 on Friday until defenseman Gustav Forsling broke the stalemate for Florida with just over ninety seconds left in regulation. Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman let out the juiciest of rebounds he’d love to have to back and Forsling made no mistake punching the Panthers ticket to an Eastern Conference final against New York.

Now that should be a high scoring affair.

How the Panthers got there — and what to expect from their series with the Rangers — is here.

Savvy Sergei

Most goaltenders will admit it’s better to stay busy. And in this series against Boston, Sergei Bobrovsky decidedly was not. Boston averaged the fewest shots on goal among remaining playoff teams (25 per game), and there were lengthy stretches where Bobrovsky didn’t have much to do.

It would be easy to dismiss his contributions to Florida’s success by just looking at the numbers then (.896 save percentage, 2.51 goals-against average) but that doesn’t tell the whole Bobrovsky tale.

The Panthers got the timely saves from their veteran. He wasn’t leaky at the wrong time, despite being underworked. Plus, if you take out the Panthers’ 5-1 loss in Game 1, Bobrovsky didn’t allow more than two goals in an outing the rest of the way.

Being dialed in at crucial moments is how goaltenders set themselves apart in the playoffs, and that’s what Bobrovsky did for Florida throughout the second-round run.

play

0:26

Bobrovsky makes back-to-back saves in heroic fashion

Bobrovsky makes back-to-back saves in heroic fashion
Sergei Bobrovsky makes two consecutive saves in the final minutes of the second period.


Bolstered by balance

The Panthers tapped in with 12 different goal scorers against the Bruins, with all but three of their forwards landing on the scoresheet with at least one. There was no singular scoring star (although Aleksander Barkov came closest to that moniker, by pacing the group with three) and so Boston had its hands full trying to keep all four lines from running through them.

Florida didn’t need it’s top skaters to do all the heavy lifting, and that’s a critical component at playoff time. Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman was terrific again in this series against a Panthers’ group firing the second-most shots on net among remaining playoff teams (36.5 per game), and that’s a difficult ask for any goalie to stand up to when they’re not offering the sort of goal support Florida does. That’s a major reason why the Panthers are moving on — and Boston’s headed home for the season.


No sleeping on special teams

It’s the great equalizer, right? Generally, the team who wins that special teams battle comes out on top in a series.

Florida was the unequivocal victor there against Boston.

The Panthers ripped in six power-play goals — and one shorthanded score — while the Bruins managed a single goal on the man advantage. The difference that makes in undeniable in the final outcome for both sides. Florida won by larger margins in this series — including two games by four goals or more — than they did against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round — where only two wins were by two goals or more — but the Lightning matched them on special teams.

When the Bruins fell down in that area, the Panthers pounced all the way to a series win.


Postseason poise

There’s something to be said for owning the moment. Florida did just that.

The blowout in Game 1 could have rattled the Panthers and set an ominous tone for the series ahead. Instead, it seemed to settle them down. There’s confidence that comes from overcoming early obstacles, and any challenges the Panthers faced from there were met with composure.

Florida wasn’t ruined without Sam Bennett in Game 1 and 2, while the Bruins fared worse without Brad Marchand in Game 4 and 5. The Panthers could stay on course when Boston was up 1-0 after the first period in Game 4 and eventually chipped their way back to victory. Yes, there was a controversial goalie interference sequence that factored into Florida’s win, but the call was out of their control.

The Panthers focused on what they could do to succeed, and it paid off with a consecutive Eastern Conference finals bid.


How the Panthers match up with the New York Rangers

A conference finals matchup between the Rangers and Panthers could break records for playoff goal scoring.

No, seriously.

Florida and New York are the third and fourth top offenses in the entire playoff field, averaging 3.70 and 3.50 goals per game respectively. Their power plays are excellent (31.4% for New York and 23.7% for Florida) and the Panthers are second in shots on net (34.0 per game) which would only add to the potential firepower these two teams could generate on one sheet.

Matthew Tkachuk (four goals and 13 points in the postseason), Barkov (five goals and 13 points), and Carter Verhaeghe (six goals and 10 points) would give the Rangers’ elite a run for their money trading chances though, especially if the rush game opens up.

New York’s defense would have to improve over its second-round performance to keep them from running wild. However, the back-and-forth that could come out of this series would highlight what made both Florida and New York so entertaining in their second-round series respectively (although the Rangers stumbled a bit towards the end attempting to close Carolina out).

Another interesting aspect of a Rangers-Panthers series is, of course, in the crease. Sergei Bobrovksy’s numbers (.896 SV%, 2.51 GAA) aren’t exactly on par with Igor Shesterkin‘s (.923 SV%, 2.40). But Bobrovsky wasn’t tested often by Boston and that, as mentioned above, can affect how a goalie performs.

Regardless, Bobrovsky was terrific when he had to be. Shesterkin has been that and more for the Rangers throughout the playoffs. New York’s bread and butter though has been its attack up front plus excellent netminding, and a series against Florida would give them the opportunity to lean on both.

Continue Reading

Sports

Stars’ Hintz remains game-time call for Game 4

Published

on

By

Stars' Hintz remains game-time call for Game 4

EDMONTON, Alberta — Dallas Stars forward Roope Hintz remains a game-time decision ahead of Game 4 of the Western Conference Final on Tuesday.

The club’s top skater has been sidelined since Game 2 in the series when he took a slash to the left leg from Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse. Hintz took part in warmups before Game 3 on Sunday but exited early and was ruled out. He was back on the ice for Dallas’ optional practice on Monday and told reporters he was “feeling good” and “trying to do everything I can” to get back in for Game 4.

It was early in the third period of Game 2 when Hintz — parked in front of the Oilers’ net — shoved Nurse from behind, and the Oilers’ blueliner responded by swinging his stick at Hintz’s leg. Hintz was down on the ice for several minutes after that before being helped off by Lian Bichsel and Mikael Granlund.

Nurse received a two-minute penalty for the slash on Hintz but no supplementary discipline from the league. The blueliner addressed the incident for the first time Tuesday, explaining it didn’t come with malicious intent.

“I was backing up to net and I got shot in the back. And I think it was just a natural reaction [to respond],” Nurse said. “It’s probably a play that everyone in this room, whether you’re a net-front guy or D man, probably happens a dozen, two dozen times in a year. It’s unfortunate that I must have got [Hintz] in a bad spot. You don’t want to go out there and hurt anyone. But it was just one of those plays that happens so often.”

Having Hintz unavailable hurt the Stars in Game 3, a 6-1 drubbing by the Oilers that put Dallas in a 2-1 hole in the best-of-7 series. Hintz is the Stars’ second-leading scorer in the postseason, with 11 goals and 15 points through 15 games. He was hopeful when taking warmups Sunday that he’d feel good enough to get back in but a quick discussion with the training staff made it clear he wasn’t ready.

Coach Pete DeBoer has since classified Hintz’s status as day-to-day.

“Of course you want to go every night, but sometimes you just can’t,” said Hintz. “I don’t know how close I [was to playing]. But I have played many years [and I] know when it’s good and when it’s not. I should be good to know that [when] it comes to that decision.”

The Oilers will have some lineup changes of their own to sort through in Game 4. Connor Brown is out after he took a hit from Alexander Petrovic in Game 3; he’ll be replaced by the incoming Viktor Arvidsson. Calvin Pickard — injured in Edmonton’s second-round series against Vegas — will return to back up for Stuart Skinner. And Edmonton continues to wait on defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who is getting closer to coming back from a lower-body injury.

Puck drop for Game 4 is 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Continue Reading

Sports

‘That’s wonderful’: Canes finally see ECF skid end

Published

on

By

'That's wonderful': Canes finally see ECF skid end

SUNRISE, Fla. — Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin is happy to never get another question about his team’s record-setting NHL playoff losing streak.

“Wonderful. That’s wonderful,” he said after Carolina’s 3-0 win over the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night. “The guys in here worked hard tonight and that’s all you can ask for.”

The Hurricanes avoided a sweep by the Panthers, sending the series back to Raleigh, North Carolina, for Game 5 on Wednesday night. In the process, Carolina snapped a 15-game losing streak in the conference finals — the longest losing streak by a team in a playoff round other than the Stanley Cup Final in NHL history.

The Hurricanes’ last win in the Eastern Conference finals was in Game 7 against the Buffalo Sabres in 2006, a game that saw current Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour score the winning goal.

“It’s been a story. So, yeah, it’s nice to not have to talk about that [anymore],” Brind’Amour said.

When the streak began in 2009, Carolina captain Jordan Staal was helping the Pittsburgh Penguins to a conference finals sweep of the Hurricanes. He said the win over Florida in Game 4 showed how much pride was in the Canes’ locker room, as they refused to allow the Panthers to end their season.

“There’s a lot of guys that didn’t want to go home,” Staal said. “We know we have a huge hill to climb here. We’ve got a great team on the other side that is going to come back with a better effort. It’s a great challenge.”

Florida coach Paul Maurice, whose team had a chance to advance to a third straight Stanley Cup Final with a victory, gave credit to the Hurricanes for a solid and disruptive game while acknowledging that his team could have gotten to its own game better.

“I haven’t been nearly as down on that hockey team as you fine people have been over the last three games, and I won’t be as down on my team tonight,” he said. “[The Hurricanes] were good. They had good sticks. They had good quickness. You see that happen more often when the possessor of the puck’s feet are not moving.”

Three factors changed the vibe for Carolina in Game 4.

Goalie Frederik Andersen had his second shutout of the postseason after being pulled in Game 2 and benched for Game 3. Andersen was 7-2 with a .937 save percentage and a 1.36 goals-against average in nine playoff games before facing Florida. In two games against the Panthers, he gave up nine goals on 36 shots (.750, 5.54). Andersen had given up just 12 goals in his previous nine postseason games.

In Game 4, he was a great last line of defense, stopping all 20 shots.

After the game, Andersen declined to discuss being benched.

“I don’t really want to talk about my feelings. It’s not about that. It’s about the team and trying to put the best lineup on the ice that they feel like gets the job done. So I’m ready for when I’m called upon and glad to be able to play,” he said.

Andersen played a key role in another factor: the Carolina penalty kill. The Panthers were 4-for-5 on the power play in the first two games of the conference finals. The Hurricanes killed off four power plays in each of the past two games.

“Our goalie was great when he needed to be. The penalty kill was phenomenal,” Brind’Amour said. “We gave ourselves a chance, and that’s all we can ask.”

Perhaps most crucially, the Hurricanes scored the first goal. Carolina is now 6-0 when scoring first and 3-5 when it trails first in these playoffs. In the regular season, the Hurricanes were 30-7-2 when scoring first and 17-23-3 when trailing first.

They scored first and then played the type of close, low-scoring game they excel at. As winger Taylor Hall said before Game 4: “We’re thinking about winning the game 1-0. If it’s close, then we’re in a good spot.”

“It’s been a story. So, yeah, it’s nice to not have to talk about that [anymore].”

Rod Brind’Amour on Carolina snapping 15-game losing streak in conference finals

Forward Logan Stankoven opened the scoring at 10:45 of the second period, giving Carolina its first lead of the series. Rookie defenseman Alexander Nikishin made a terrific backhand pass across the neutral zone to spring Stankoven ahead of the Panthers’ defense, and he beat goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for his fifth goal of the playoffs.

Stankoven said he called for the pass from Nikishin, who was playing in his third postseason game.

“The play happened so fast and it was a great feed by him to make that play off the turnover. It all starts with him,” said Stankoven, who was acquired from the Dallas Stars in the Mikko Rantanen deadline trade.

It remained 1-0 until Sebastian Aho and Staal added empty-net goals in the last 2:11 for the 3-0 win.

Slavin said Game 4 was in the Carolina’s comfort zone.

“A thousand percent. It was 1-0 up until the end there. You can’t get any tighter than that,” he said.

With that, the Hurricanes ended their historic losing streak and turned their attention to making more NHL history. Only four teams in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs have rallied to win a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-0, although two have done it in the past 15 years (Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 and Los Angeles Kings in 2014).

“You watched the way we played tonight. Everyone put their heart on the line,” Slavin said. “We know we’ve got a good group in here. We know we’ve got all the pieces. We just have to bring it every night.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Stars-Oilers Game 4 preview: Can Dallas punch back to even it up?

Published

on

By

Stars-Oilers Game 4 preview: Can Dallas punch back to even it up?

The good news for the Dallas Stars is that if the Western Conference finals get to a Game 7, they have the NHL’s master of Game 7s behind their bench.

The bad news is that they need to get to Game 7 for that to matter. And after going down 2-1 in the series to the Edmonton Oilers via a 6-1 loss in Game 3, another defeat could make that difficult.

Can they punch back in Game 4 to knot the matchup at 2-2 heading back home to Dallas for Game 5?

Here are notes on the matchup from ESPN Research, as well as betting intel from ESPN BET:

More from Game 3: Recap | Grades

Matchup notes

Dallas Stars at Edmonton Oilers
Game 4 | 8 p.m. ET | ESPN/ESPN+

Following the Oilers’ win in Game 3, ESPN BET has adjusted the series winner odds to Oilers -375 (previously -140) and Stars +280 (previously +120). The Oilers’ Cup winner odds are now +140, while the Stars’ are +700. Connor McDavid is atop the Conn Smythe odds leaderboard at +175.

The Oilers are now 10-2 in their past 12 games, after losing the first two games of the first round vs. the Los Angeles Kings, and are 20-3 at home in the playoffs since 2017 when leading after two periods.

The Stars lost consecutive games for the first time in the 2025 playoffs, and have one goal total in their past three road games (Games 2 and 5 of the second round against the Winnipeg Jets and Game 3 against Edmonton).

McDavid powered the Oilers to a Game 3 win with his 44th multipoint and sixth multigoal game of his playoff career. McDavid has as many playoff games with multiple points (44) as he does with no points (20) or one point (24).

Teammate Evan Bouchard opened the scoring with his sixth goal this postseason, tying Leon Draisaitl for the team lead. Bouchard is the first defenseman with six goals in consecutive postseasons since Rob Blake in 2001 and 2002. Bouchard also recorded an assist, marking his 24th career multipoint playoff game, which extended his record for defensemen in a four-postseason span.

Stuart Skinner was remarkable in goal once again, stopping 33 of 34 shots to earn his fourth win this postseason. It was his first win of these playoffs that didn’t end in a shutout, as the Stars’ goal with 4:25 left in the second period ended Skinner’s shutout streak at 99 minutes, 33 seconds. With the win, Skinner tied Andy Moog for the third-most playoff wins by a goaltender in Oilers history (23); Bill Ranford is next on the list at 25, and Grant Fuhr is well ahead at No. 1 with 74.

Dallas’ Mikko Rantanen recorded an assist on the goal from Jason Robertson, but has gone without a goal in his past six games. In his previous six games before the drought, he scored nine goals, which remains tied for the NHL lead this postseason.

Jake Oettinger allowed six goals in the loss, tied for the most in a playoff game in his career; the previous occasion was Game 6 of the 2023 Western Conference finals against the Vegas Golden Knights.


Scoring leaders

GP: 14 | G: 5 | A: 17

GP: 16 | G: 9 | A: 12

Continue Reading

Trending