Dave Hyde: Forsling’s goal finishes Boston, sends Panthers back to final four
Next.
Somehow, someway, Gustav Forsling’s shot with 93 seconds left in Game 6 went through Boston defenseman Parker Wotherspoon’s legs, slipped by the brick wall of goalie Jeremy Swayman and sent the Florida Panthers on their merry way.
Next.
The Panthers went into the heart of Boston hockey for the second straight season and came out with Boston’s heart, soul and season with a 2-1 win Friday night to win a series full of bile and wonderful hockey, four games to two.
Next.
After they lined up to shake hands, after they took extra time respecting Swayman, Boston already was beginning to move into the background for the Panthers as they advance to their second straight Eastern Conference Finals starting Wednesday at the New York Rangers.
After the flamboyance flamed out in the series, after the honor code of fisticuffs played out and pistols at 10 paces wasn’t on the table, the Florida Panthers took down Boston just in the manner they should have.
Forecheck pressure. Defensive discipline. Grinding board work. And a fortunate goal.
You know, hockey.
“I can’t believe it went in,’’ Forsling said of his winning goal.
This was an odd series with five of the six games won by the road team. The Panthers won all three in Boston, reducing Boston fans to chants like, “Shoot the puck,” at their team in Game 3 and pained silence by Friday’s end.
If you wanted drama, it was all there in the opening games. Matthew Tkachuk fought David Pastrnak. Sam Bennett hit Brad Marchand (and, yes, they shook hands afterward). The stakes became too high to risk penalty or injury as the series lengthened, so the only mano-a-mano battle was Bobrovsky vs. Swayman.
Who was better? Could you even pick by the end?
Bobrovsky was beaten after his defense faltered on a Pavel Zacha breakaway to open Friday’s scoring. But Bobrovsky covered up for other mistakes that gave Pastrnak a breakaway and a point-blank shot by Jake DeBrusk.
Swayman was the anchor to everything Boston again. He covered up for second-period discipline issues like penalties, including their fourth for too many men on the ice this series, and then an interference penalty by Charlie Coyle, who had a needless hit on Tkachuk.
It was a hockey play more than poetry on ice that got the Panthers going. Brandon Montour drove up the middle, pushing Boston’s defense back. Carter Verhaeghe came across the blue line with the puck and turned to the middle for a shot. The puck ricocheted among Boston defenders. Verhaeghe poked it to Lundell, whose shot got by Swayman.
It stayed that way until Forsling did what they say to do in these games: Put a shot on net. His hit the back of the net to decide the series.
By Wednesday, Boston will be forgotten. The Rangers await. The last time the Panthers faced the Rangers in the playoffs was 1997, the year after the Year of the Rat. Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier led the Rangers to a 4-1 series rout as the Panthers started their quarter-century without a playoff series win.
That’s the needed perspective to the Panthers in back-to-back conference finals. Do you need to remember the bad days to appreciate the good ones? Probably not. But it sure makes this Panthers era that much sweeter.
This team says it has unfinished business after losing in the Stanley Cup Final last spring. They’re within one series of reaching the Final again. Forsling’s miracle shot assured that. Even he couldn’t explain how it went in, only that they they were moving on.
