Panthers author 'stupefying' upset, eliminate Bruins in Game 7.
BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins, who set new NHL records for regular-season success, have been eliminated in the Stanley Cup playoffs' opening round after a 4-3 Game 7 overtime win by the Florida Panthers on Sunday night.
Winger Carter Verhaeghe's goal 8:35 into overtime sent the Panthers into a wild celebration and left Bruins fans in stunned silence.
Florida's Sam Bennett fought hard on the forecheck to move the puck to Verhaeghe. With Matthew Tkachuk screening goalie Jeremy Swayman, Verhaeghe found room to score his second of the series.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," said Tkachuk, staring at a postgame score sheet. "The talent they have over there in Boston is unbelievable. That we were able to do what we did after what they did all year ... the fact that we were able to beat them in the playoffs is crazy."
Florida advances to face the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round. The Leafs eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games, winning their first playoff series since 2004.
"The way it ended didn't matter. It's just that the season's over. I guess the words that come to mind right now are disappointment and confusion," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said.
The Panthers completed their comeback after trailing 3-1 in the series, winning three straight games to eliminate Boston. They rallied to force overtime on a goal by defenseman Brandon Montour with a minute left in regulation.
"We were two minutes away from being in a very sad mood right now," Tkachuk said. "But [Montour] pulled us through. We live to fight another day."
The 2022-23 Bruins were the most successful regular-season team in NHL history, setting league records for wins (65) and points (135) in a single season.
But with that success came the unique pressure of going wire-to-wire as the NHL's best. As winger Brad Marchand told ESPN in March: "It's not about the regular season. If you win the Presidents' Trophy but you don't win the Cup, nobody cares. That's what we know on this team."
To that end, Boston also had to battle the NHL's "Presidents' Trophy Curse," as the best regular-season team historically underwhelms in the postseason. Since the 1985-86 season when the trophy was first awarded, 11 regular-season champs made the Stanley Cup Final with eight of them winning. No Presidents' Trophy winner has advanced to the Stanley Cup Final since the NHL went to the wild card format in 2013-14.
In the past, Presidents' Trophy winners that didn't find playoff success would point to a lack of adversity in the regular season as one reason. Montgomery downplayed that as a factor but indicated that there was some residual malaise from the easy ride the Bruins had before the playoffs.
"I do think our first two games we played, we weren't ready for the intensity of Stanley Cup playoffs, and I think that goes with the regular season," he said. "But by Games 5, 6 and 7, we had dug in. That's where it's a little stupefying."
The Bruins join the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning, whose regular-season wins mark Boston surpassed this season, as recent regular-season standings leaders who were eliminated in the playoffs' opening round.
Coincidentally, both Panthers general manager Bill Zito and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky were with the Columbus Blue Jackets when they swept that Lightning team in the first round.
The Bruins made their boldest coaching decision of the series before Game 7, benching goalie Linus Ullmark in favor of the 24-year-old Swayman.
While Boston used both goalies in a regular-season tandem -- Ullmark (40-6-1) played 49 games while Swayman (24-6-4) played 37 games -- Ullmark started the first six games of the series against the Panthers. Although he made a brief appearance in Game 4, Swayman hadn't started a game since the Bruins' season finale at Montreal on April 13.
Swayman was loudly cheered by fans at TD Garden during pregame lineup announcements, as the crowd buzzed before Game 7. But the fans soon grew frustrated during the first period, as the Bruins hesitated to take shots on goal and took three minor penalties.
The Panthers struck first on a gorgeous give-and-go play in the waning moments of a first-period power play. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky started the play, setting the puck up for Montour. He raced through the neutral zone and passed to center Anton Lundell, who quickly fed the puck back to Montour as he skated in between all four Bruins penalty killers. His quick backhand flip beat Swayman at 12:23 for the 1-0 lead.
Florida made it 2-0 just 1:14 into the second period as Sam Reinhart fired a puck past Swayman from the slot for his fourth of the playoffs.
Boston finally got on the board at 7:52 courtesy of its most reliable playoff performer, center David Krejci. With defenseman Marc Staal in the penalty box for tripping, Krejci's shot from the left side beat Bobrovsky.
It was his 43rd career playoff goal in 160 career playoff games.
The Bruins tied the game on the power play to begin the third period after David Pastrnak drew a roughing penalty on Montour. Forward Tyler Bertuzzi tipped home a shot from defenseman Dmitry Orlov just 55 seconds into the period.
Then it was Pastrnak playing the hero at 4:11 of the third. Defenseman Brandon Carlo's shot thumped off Bobrovsky's pads directly to Pastrnak, who scored 61 goals in the regular season. He scored his fifth of the series to give Boston its first lead of Game 7, leaping into the glass in celebration in front of a now-frenzied TD Garden crowd.
But that crowd was left stunned when the Panthers tied Game 7 at 3-3 with one minute left in regulation and Bobrovsky pulled. Aleksander Barkov's shot from the top of the zone was blocked by Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron straight to Montour, whose quick shot beat Swayman for his second goal of the night. His teammates mobbed him against the boards, while Panthers players embraced on the bench.
Swayman stopped Panthers star Tkachuk on a breakaway early in overtime and had another strong stop on a Verhaeghe chance. But the Panthers found a way to score the winner.
They had a crazy regular season. But the playoffs are completely different. I mean, we had a crazy regular season last year, and it really didn't amount to anything," Verhaeghe said.
The Panthers won the Presidents' Trophy last season with 122 points in the standings and lost in the second round to Tampa Bay.
The elimination not only ends the Bruins' season but could be the end of an era. Krejci and Bergeron are both unrestricted free agents. Bergeron is in his 19th NHL season, while Krejci has played 16 seasons. Boston players spoke openly about trying to send off the two veterans with a Stanley Cup win.
After the handshake line between the teams, the stunned Bruins stood on the ice near their bench. Finally, Bergeron skated to center ice to salute the fans before the players retreated to their locker room.
Bergeron, 37, said after the game that he will take some time to determine his next steps. He also revealed he missed the first four games of the series with a herniated disk in his back. The Panthers won all three games Bergeron played in the series.
He remained on the ice to embrace his teammates as they left, including his longtime linemate, Marchand.
"He's just like the perfect person on or off the ice. Such an incredible leader, so driven, incredible family man, great father and great friend," Marchand said. "I'll forever be grateful for him."
Stanley Cup champion Avalanche out, as Kraken win 1st series.
DENVER -- Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice, Philipp Grubauer was stellar in stopping 33 shots and the Seattle Kraken eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche with a 2-1 win in Game 7 on Sunday night.
The Kraken became the first expansion team to defeat the reigning Stanley Cup champs in their inaugural playoff series, according to NHL Stats.
"I think they are about as highly competitive as any team we played," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "They are deep, and every line is the same."
Bjorkstrand scored one goal on a fortuitous deflection -- the puck hit off a stick and a glove -- and another with a liner past goaltender Alexandar Georgiev that clanged off the post. Seattle grabbed the lead in every game in the series.
"Within the group, we believe in ourselves," Bjorkstrand said in his bench interview on TNT after the victory. "It's been like that all series. ... We knew what we had to do to come in here and win the game."
Next up for the second-year Kraken is a second-round series against the Dallas Stars that opens Tuesday night in Texas.
"They are playing the way they were taught how to play, and Grubauer was incredible in this series," Bednar said. "They make it hard on you to create chances. They are a 100-point team. They are a good team."
Grubauer, who played three seasons for the Avalanche, finished the series against his former teammates with 231 saves and a 2.68 goals-against average.
"He was unbelievable. Every shot he was seeing, he would stop. He was excellent back there," Seattle forward Yanni Gourde told TNT outside the locker room. "He was our rock, and there's no way we win this series if he's not in there."
Mikko Rantanen was credited with a power-play goal for Colorado after a shot by Nathan MacKinnon clipped him and went in. MacKinnon appeared to score early in the third period to tie it at 2, but Seattle challenged the play, and the goal was disallowed due to Colorado being offside.
The Avalanche pulled Georgiev with under two minutes remaining but couldn't get the equalizer. It allowed the Kraken to accomplish another franchise first: a series-clinching celebration.
"We had success when we played them tight and simple," Bjorkstrand said of the Avalanche. "When they were at their best, they had space. The success came from moving our feet and putting pucks deep."
Colorado has now lost its past six Game 7s. And Seattle's win continued a historic road-team trend this postseason. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, road teams are 31-18, the most away victories in the opening round since the NHL went to four rounds of seven-game series in 1987.
"I am just really happy for the guys and their effort. They deserve this," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "Everyone was waiting for this group to fall off and go away, and we never did. We have substance, and our team has played very cohesive, and they worked hard for it. We earned it when we became a playoff team."
Both teams lost players for the series due to hard hits. Jared McCann didn't play again after taking a hit in Game 4 from Cale Makar along the boards that drew a one-game suspension (Game 5) for the Avalanche defenseman. Colorado was without Andrew Cogliano for Game 7 after he suffered a fracture in his neck following a hit along the boards from Kraken forward Jordan Eberle, who didn't face supplemental discipline.
MacKinnon energized the crowd on Sunday with what looked like a tying goal. But it was taken off the board following a challenge, as Artturi Lehkonen was ruled in the zone before the puck entered. It was the second time in the series the Kraken used a challenge to negate an Avalanche score.
The Kraken also deflated the capacity crowd by doing what they've done in every game during the series: score first.
Held without a goal all series coming in, Bjorkstrand was credited with a goal in the second period that glanced the stick of Alex Newhook then off the glove of Ben Meyers and into the goal. Bjorkstrand scored again nearly four minutes later on a breakaway down the side to make it 2-0.
Bjorkstrand nearly had a hat trick, but his shot late in the game hit the post.
"I didn't want to go out and not being able to sleep at night because I didn't perform well," Bjorkstrand explained. "Some nights you just kind of feel the puck better, and I feel like this is just one of those nights."
With 27.3 seconds left in the second period, MacKinnon lined a shot that glanced off Rantanen and went by Grubauer. MacKinnon's assist on the play was his 100th career playoff point. He joins the company of Joe Sakic (188) and Peter Forsberg (159) as the only Avalanche players to reach the 100-point milestone in the postseason.
Georgiev finished with 25 saves.
The banged-up Avalanche were missing forwards Darren Helm (upper body), Cogliano and Valeri Nichushkin (personal reasons) along with defenseman Josh Manson (lower body) in Game 7.
They had been without captain Gabriel Landeskog all season after he underwent knee surgery in October.
"Tough year overall," MacKinnon said. "Obviously, during the season, we're going to say all of the right things, but it's hard missing the guys. ... We played a really great game; just couldn't find the back of the net."
Carolina waiting on the Rangers-Devils winner
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Bam Bam
Kraken take the 3-2 lead
2 quick goals
Kraken take the 3-2 lead
2 quick goals
Kraken 4-2
Over 5.5 hits in the 1st period
Over 5.5 hits in the 1st period
