It was the first time in 27 years that Boston played a Stanley Cup Playoff game in South Florida. The last time that it happened was when the Panthers eliminated the Bruins in Game 5 of the 1996 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at Miami Arena. Bill Lindsay got the go-ahead goal as he went around Ray Bourque and scored while in mid-air on a forehand shot past Bill Ranford with 4:57 left in the third period. Lindsay was introduced to the crowd in Sunrise during a pregame ceremony.
It turned out to be the first postseason series victory for the Panthers in franchise history. Florida went on to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the next two rounds to capture the 1996 Eastern Conference Championship.
The Panthers had their complete roster that they have used since early March. The Bruins were without Patrice Bergeron for the third straight game of the series. He is expected to be back for Game 5. David Krejci was also missing from the Bruins lineup.
Boston rolled out to a 1-0 lead at the 2:26 mark of the first period. Dmitry Orlov send a lead pass from his own right circle. Taylor Hall skated from outside the Panthers blue line to above the top right circle and snapped a shot past Alex Lyon for his second goal of the series.
In the second period, the B's increased their lead to 2-0 at 6:00. Brad Marchand released a wrist shot from the right point and Charlie Coyle redirected it in from the top of the crease. The Cats had only 12 shots on goal after two periods.
It became 3-0 for the Bruins at the 8:32 mark of the third period. Tyler Bertuzzi touched the puck on the end wall. Orlov connected a long lead pass from his own zone to David Pastrnak behind the defense at the Panthers blue line. He skated into the left circle and scored on a snap shot for his second tally of the postseason.
Florida surrendered another goal and were down 4-0 with 8:15 left in the third. Hall backhanded a pass from the right wing and Nick Foligno steered it in from the crease area by Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Panthers broke the shutout with 5:19 remaining in the frame. Eric Staal made an outlet pass from the Florida zone and Eetu Luostarinen sent a diagonal pass in the neutral zone to Gustav Forsling. He moved to the left circle and blasted a slap shot past Linus Ullmark for a shorthanded goal. It was just the third shorthanded goal ever scored by the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Lindsay accomplished it in 1996 and Tomas Kopecky did it in 2012. Staal chalked up his 37th career postseason assist.
The Cats pulled their goalie for an extra attacker and they succeeded with 4:01 to go and trailed 4-2. Sam Reinhart poked in the puck from the blue paint for his fourth career playoff goal. Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell were credited with assists on the play. Barkov passed Jonathan Huberdeau for first all-time in Florida Panthers history with his 17th career postseason assist.
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