Stanley Cup playoffs Round 2, Game 6: Florida Panthers 2, Boston Bruins 1

The Florida Panthers are heading back to the Eastern Conference Final.

Gustav Forsling scored the game-winning goal with 93 seconds left in regulation to lift Florida to a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 6 to clinch the second-round series victory.

Next up for Florida will be the New York Rangers.

Anton Lundell also scored a goal and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 22 of 23 shots he faced.

Follow along throughout the game for score updates, thoughts, commentary and analysis.

Anton Lundell ties it

Anton Lundell, who has already had a few big moments in this Bruins series, came up big yet again by scoring the game-tying goal with 7:16 left in the second period. A blocked shot went right to him, and he fired a wrist shot from the slot that beat Jeremy Swayman.

Luostarinen to the room

Florida forward Eetu Luostarinen left the ice midway through the second period after he took what looked like a high stick to the face from teammate Evan Rodrigues in the offensive zone. We’ll see how much time he misses and how this impacts the way Paul Maurice runs his forwards.

First intermission thoughts

For a span of 14:10 midway through the first period, the Panthers’ defense was dominant and held the Bruins without a shot on goal. On either end of that stretch, though, Boston attacked in flurries. The Bruins got four shots on goal in the first 3:33 of the game and then three more shots on goal in the final 2:17 of the frame, including the goal on Pavel Zacha’s breakaway.

Florida had the overall edge in shot attempts (24-15), shots on goal (10-7) and scoring chances (11-7) in the first period, but Boston had the edge in high-danger chances (6-5).

Bruins score first

After the Panthers dominated for the better part of the first period, it was Boston that got on the board first, when Pavel Zacha got behind the Panthers’ defense, drove down the ice on a breakaway and beat Sergei Boborovsky with 52.8 seconds left in the opening frame.

Jake DeBrusk made a crisp pass on the boards to get the puck to Zacha.

Some good chances early

The Panthers are out-shooting the Bruins 5-4 through the first eight minutes, with the majority of Florida’s chances coming over the past couple minutes. They have been buzzing since killing off an early Bruins power play, one in which the Panthers generated the only real scoring chance. Before that Boston power play, Sergei Bobrovsky made a pair of spectacular saves on Boston’s John Beecher.

Brad Marchand officially back for Boston

He was listed as a game-time decision entering the day, but there was little doubt that Bruins captain Brad Marchand would be on the ice Friday.

Now, it’s official.

Marchand is not only back in the Boston lineup, but he’ll be on the ice for the opening puck drop. Boston’s starters along with Marchand: center Pavel Zacha, right wing Justin Brazeau and defensemen Hampus Lindholdm and Charlie McAvoy.

The Panthers, meanwhile, will start with the Aleksander Barkov line with Vladimir Tarasenko and Sam Reinhart on the wings. Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad are the starting defensemen.

The goaltenders are unchangd for both teams: Sergei Bobrovsky for Florida, Jeremy Swayman for Boston.

Series recap and look ahead

▪ Game 1: The Bruins scored goals on each of their final three shots of the second period and never looked back to beat the Panthers 5-1 at Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena.

Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman made 38 saves, including stopping all 16 Panthers shots that came his way in the third period.

▪ Game 2: Aleksander Barkov had two goals and two assists, Sam Reinhart had four assists and Brandon Montour had three points as Florida blew out Boston 6-1 in a game that became contentious in the third period with 12 combined game misconducts.

▪ Game 3: The Panthers scored four times on the power play and held the Bruins to just 17 shots on goal in a 6-2 win at TD Garden to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

▪ Game 4: The Panthers rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the series. Anton Lundell, Sam Bennett and Aleksander Barkov scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky was perfect in the final two periods after giving up a pair of goals in the first.

▪ Game 5: The Panthers’ couldn’t finish off the Boston Bruins in the first series-clinching opportunity of their second-round Stanley Cup playoffs series, falling 2-1 in Game 5. Morgan Geekie and Charlie McAvoy scored for Boston, with McAvoy’s goal at 10:25 of the second period serving as the game winner. The Panthers challenged for goaltender interference, but the call was upheld.

▪ Game 6: Tonight

▪ Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena, Time and TV network TBD

Pregame reading

Need to catch up ahead of Game 6? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past two days.

Florida Panthers make two lineup changes ahead of Game 6 against Boston Bruins

Marchand talks Bennett hit. And could Panthers lineups changes be coming in Game 6 vs Bruins?

Paul Maurice provides perspective on playoffs as Panthers prepare for Game 6 vs Bruins

Even in loss, Panthers’ Sam Reinhart did ’freakishly good things’ in Game 5 vs Bruins

Paul Maurice lit into Florida Panthers in Game 5 loss to Bruins. Will it spark the team?

Florida Panthers can’t complete comeback as Boston Bruins win Game 5 to extend series