Last Year’s Panthers-Bruins Game 6 Was a Wild One

The last time the Panthers and Bruins played a Game 6 in the Stanley Cup playoffs, it was one to remember.

How will this one play out come Friday?

Florida was in the same spot the Bruins are today; it trailed the first-round series 3-1 and won on the road in Game 5 to keep its season going.

Boston, with a chance to kill off the Panthers in Game 5, had a big chance to score in the final seconds but Sergei Bobrovsky stopped Brad Marchand on a breakaway to keep the score tied at 3. Matthew Tkachuk won that one in overtime.

On Tuesday night, Florida had a similar late scoring chance.

With 6 seconds left, Jeremy Swayman made a point-blank stop on Sam Reinhart to secure a 2-1 win.

Now, these two will play a Game 6 for the second consecutive year.

On April 28, 2023, Florida was playing for its lives down 3-2 in the first-round series.

Friday, it will be Boston continuing to try and avoid elimination.

Last year, it was the Sunrise crowd which boosted the Panthers; Boston gets its chance Friday night.

“I couldn’t really hear anything in my head for like the last 20 minutes,’’ Barkov said after Florida’s 7-5 Game 6 win over the Bruins.

“It was insane. It was awesome. Awesome to be a part of.”

In last year’s Game 6, Florida led going into the third period.

Only the two went back-and-forth in the third period with the Bruins taking the lead twice; the Panthers came back and tied the score fairly quickly.

Boston took a 4-3 lead at 3:53 of the third; Zac Dalpe tied it at 7:21.

The Bruins got a Jake DeBrusk shorthanded goal at 10:22; Tkachuk got his second of the night 27 seconds later to make it 5-5.

With 5:38 left, Eetu Luostarinen picked up a turn over, drove in and beat Linus Ullmark for a 6-5 lead.

Reinhart ended it with an empty net goal which went the length of the ice.

“It was a battle. They scored, we scored and it was a big emotional swing,” Radko Gudas said.

“Both teams wanted it. They are a great team and they just kept coming back. But so did we. It was a big game for us. We stuck with it, stuck with it. Everyone was a team player. Guys were willing to do the difficult thing, the hard things. We have been preparing for this all year. It’s do-or-die.

“I think we’re at our best when our backs are against the wall.”

Boston thinks the same today.