Global Courant 2023-05-01 07:04:00
BOSTON –
Brandon Montour tied the score with 1 minute left in regulation, and Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winner at 8:35 in overtime to lead the Florida Panthers to a 4-3 Game 7 victory on Sunday night and take out the record-breaking Boston Bruins. the playoffs.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves as the Panthers won three in a row after trailing 3–1 in the series to advance in the postseason for the second time since reaching the 1996 Stanley Cup Final. They will face the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round.
Boston rallied from a two-goal deficit to take a 3–2 lead, but Florida pulled Bobrovsky for a finishing push and Montour tied with his second of the game. Verhaeghe won the ball with a shot from the right throwing circle that landed just below the crossbar.
That eliminated the Bruins, who set NHL records with 65 wins and 135 points in the regular season, but became the second Presidents’ Trophy winner in five years to lose in the first round.
Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida. The Bruins had not lost three games in a row all season.
David Krejci and Tyler Bertuzzi scored after Boston trailed 2–0, and David Pastrnak gave the Bruins their only lead of the game on a power play goal 55 seconds into the third period. Jeremy Swayman, making his first start of the series as a substitute for likely Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark, stopped 32 shots.
The game could be the last for Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron, the five-time Selke Trophy winner who teased retirement last year but chose to return. He was the last Boston player on the ice.
