Boston Bruins

BOSTON – Florida’s Gustav Forsling’s rebound goal with 1:33 left in regulation lifted the visiting Panthers to a 2-1, series-clinching win over the host Bruins in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Friday.

Anton Lundell had his initial shot stopped by Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman (26 saves), but from the left side Forsling slipped the loose puck inside the near post for the deciding goal.

Lundell finished with a goal and an assist after scoring the tying tally at 12:44 of the second, helping the Panthers to their sixth straight playoff win at TD Garden.

Pavel Zacha scored Boston’s lone goal.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves for Florida, including nine in the third period.

Bruins captain Brad Marchand returned to the lineup following a two-game absence due to an upper-body injury.

After the Bruins were unable to clear a shot blocked by Jake DeBrusk, Lundell picked up a loose puck in the slot and unleashed a dart to beat Swayman and tie the game at 12:44 of the middle frame.

A rollercoaster first period saw the Bruins post the first four shots on goal before a span of 14:11 without one, but Zacha buried the opening goal — the first of his 25-game playoff career — with 52.8 seconds left to make it 1-0.

DeBrusk continued his strong playmaking run with a dish off the neutral zone wall to spring Zacha for the breakaway, which he brought to his backhand and slipped under the crossbar.

Bobrovsky came up with several key saves in the second period that allowed his Panthers to tie the game, including denying Justin Brazeau’s one-timer on the same shift as Lundell’s goal.

Florida looked to take a 2-1 lead in the opening minute of the third. Brandon Montour took a slapper from the right point that Swayman initially thought beat him through the five-hole, but the Boston netminder had the puck behind his pads after it clanked off the post.

Bobrovsky made another important stop eight minutes into the final frame, holding both posts to keep out Charlie McAvoy’s driving attempt to the crease.

Neither team could cash in on a power-play attempt late in the third period, which included 22 overlapping seconds of 4-on-4.

–Field Level Media

SUNRISE – Boston’s Charlie McAvoy had a goal and an assist to help the Bruins stave off elimination with a 2-1 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Tuesday night in Florida.

The Panthers still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading to Game 6 on Friday night in Boston.

Morgan Geekie also scored and Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves for the Bruins, who have never overturned a 3-1 series deficit in a best-of-seven set in 25 previous attempts.

Sam Reinhart scored and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves for the Panthers, who had won three in a row to take command of the series.

Geekie gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 4:49 of the first period with his fourth goal of the playoffs.

Jake DeBrusk retrieved the puck behind the Florida net and passed it to Geekie driving toward the crease. Bobrovsky came off the goal line to attempt a save, but Geekie pulled the puck to his backhand and slid it into the net.

The Panthers were getting outshot 17-8 when Florida coach Paul Maurice gave his team a spirited pep talk during a timeout early in the second period.

Aleksander Barkov won the ensuing faceoff and the Panthers kept the puck in the Boston zone before Aaron Ekblad took a shot from the right point that hit Reinhart in the slot.

Swayman tried to poke the puck through the middle, but it went back to Reinhart, who banked his shot off the post and into the net to tie it 1-1 at 6:23.

McAvoy moved Boston back ahead 2-1 at 10:25 of the second.

Trent Frederic entered the Florida zone off a rush and passed the puck back to Charlie Coyle, who dropped it for McAvoy. The Boston defenseman had room to skate between the hashmarks and score with a wrist shot.

Boston forward Danton Heinen made contact with Bobrovsky just before McAvoy’s goal, prompting the Panthers to challenge for goalie interference, but the goal was upheld after a video review.

Bobrovsky kept it a one-goal deficit when he turned away DeBrusk on a breakaway with 5:35 left in the second period. He also stopped Pavel Zacha on a short-handed breakaway at 2:13 of the third.

Boston played its second straight game without team captain Brad Marchand, who was injured late in Game 3 on a hit to the head by the Panthers’ Sam Bennett. Marchand leads the Bruins in scoring during the postseason with 10 points (three goals, seven assists).

–Field Level Media

BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Florida Panthers built a four-goal lead and finished off a 6-2 win over the host Boston Bruins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Friday. Evan Rodrigues scored twice, Brandon Montour had a goal and an assist, while Vladimir Tarasenko, Carter Verhaeghe also scored for Florida, which took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

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Matthew Tkachuk had three assists, while Aleksander Barkov added two assists as the Panthers went 4-for-6 on the power play. Panthers’ goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky needed to make only 14 saves in Florida’s net in an impressive defensive effort, as Boston recorded half of its 16 shots in the third period.

After the Bruins accumulated only seven shots by the halfway mark of the game, Jakub Lauko and Jake DeBrusk each scored in a 3:30 span in the third period to break up Florida’s 10-0 scoring run in the series. DeBrusk added an assist.

Prior to Florida’s dominating run of goals, no team had scored more than seven straight in this postseason.

Jeremy Swayman stopped 27 shots for the Bruins.

Boston captain Brad Marchand did not return for the third period due to an upper-body injury.

Pavel Zacha’s blind backhand pass allowed Florida to maintain offensive-zone possession and score the opening goal 8:04 into the first period. Gustav Forsling took a shot from above the left circle that Rodrigues deflected over Swayman’s shoulder from the doorstep.

Boston defenseman Mason Lohrei’s double-minor penalty for high sticking in the second period proved costly, leading to two Florida goals in exactly a minute.

Tarasenko made it 2-0 when he snapped off a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Swayman upstairs at 16:14 of the middle period. A minute later, Verhaeghe redirected Matthew Tkachuk’s centering pass over Swayman’s blocker for a 3-0 lead.

After Lauko was called for a questionable goaltender interference penalty on a net drive early in the third, Montour took advantage on the ensuing power play and ripped a top-shelf shot from the center point at 3:09 for a 4-0 lead.

A delayed penalty helped Boston get on the board at 5:01, as Lauko tucked a wrister over Bobrovsky off a DeBrusk feed to the left circle.

Lohrei sent a pass to DeBrusk for a hard shot from the left dot that brought Boston back within 4-2 at 8:31.

Reinhart’s empty-netter with 1:24 left punctuated the Florida win, and Rodrigues added on with a power-play tally inside the final minute.

–Field Level Media

SUNRISE – (Staff and wire Service Report) – Florida team captain Aleksander Barkov collected two goals and two assists to fuel the Panthers to a 6-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Sam Reinhart notched four assists and defenseman Brandon Montour scored a goal and set up two others to help the Panthers even the best-of-seven series with the Bruins at one victory apiece. Game 3 is Friday in Boston.

Fourth-liner Steven Lorentz, Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida, which recorded six consecutive goals in a playoff game for the first time in franchise history. Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 saves in the win.

Jeremy Swayman, who turned aside 19 of 23 shots, yielded more than two goals for the first time in eight games this postseason. Linus Ullmark made eight saves in relief and Charlie Coyle scored a goal in the first period for the Bruins.

An unmarked Lorentz deftly deflected Montour’s shot from the point past Swayman to forge a 1-1 tie at 1:56 of the second period. The goal was the second of the playoffs for Lorentz, who had one tally in 38 games during the regular season.

Barkov gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead just under eight minutes later after gaining inside position on Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy and cleaning up a rebound off a shot from Reinhart.

Forsling doubled the advantage after he dropped to a knee while blasting a shot past Swayman with two seconds remaining in the second period.

A turnover deep in Boston’s zone allowed Barkov to feed Luostarinen at the back post for an easy conversion and a 4-1 lead for the Panthers at 1:28 of the third period.

Barkov forced a turnover at the blue line and beat Ullmark at 10:52 of the third before feeding Montour at the doorstep just 66 seconds later. Barkov has four goals in his past three games.

Boston’s swarming forecheck resulted in Florida committing a turnover in its defensive end, leading to the game’s first goal with 7:48 remaining in the first period. Pavel Zacha executed a give-and-go with captain Brad Marchand before the latter backhanded a goal-mouth feed that Coyle converted for his first goal of the postseason.

–Field Level Media