It smells like 1996 in South Florida. Why?
THE FLORIDA PANTHERS HAVE WON A PLAYOFF SERIES FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1996! LET’S GO HOME BABY!!!!
The Florida Panthers’ heroics came up huge on Friday night, as they closed out their round one series against the Washington Capitals, winning 4-3 in OT.
First Period:
Pregame, Carter Verhaeghe was considered to be a game-time decision, and good thing he was cleared to play, as he came up huge.
The Florida Panthers came out early on, and were carried by Sergei Bobrovsky, who came out as a brick wall, saving all 13 shots he faced.
The Panthers had a chance to take momentum in the middle of the period, but their anemic power play (0-for-3 tonight, 0-for-18) came into form and Washington would kill it.
Second Period:
The Capitals finally beat Sergei Bobrovsky at 3:44 in the second period when a feed by Garnet Hathaway would end up in the stick of Nick Dowd, and Dowd would put it in down low into the post and in.
It isn’t a Panthers playoff series without something great from the GOAT, Ryan Lomberg, and he would have his moment.
Lomberg would tie the game at one when he would receive a kicked out pass off of two shots from Patric Hornqvist and Eetu Luostarinen, eventually finding the hashmarks and finding the empty net to snap it home.
Third Period, False Hope for the Panthers:
The momentum would quickly shift back to Washington as they took a 2-1 lead when a shot by Justin Schultz would get deflected by Nicklas Backstrom, who directed it above Sergei Bobrovsky’s glove to make it 2-1 Caps.
However, Florida answered. They would tie the game at two during an odd man rush when Aaron Ekblad would pass it to his right and find Claude Giroux, who would shoot one perfectly through the legs of Ilya Samsonov.
The Panthers weren’t done, as all hope had been gained with 5:43 remaining.
Aleksander Barkov, who hasn’t done much in these playoffs so far, scored what seemed to be the series-defining goal. Florida took the lead when Claude Giroux would slip a rebound left to Barkov, who shot it low and beat Samsonov. This made it 3-2 Florida.
The Caps would pull Samsonov with around 2:30 left, and the Panthers would just have to score an empty netter to lock up their first series win since 1996 in regulation. However, the Panthers would get called for a penalty at 1:06 when Gustav Forsling tripped Nicklas Backstrom. The Panthers would have to kill off a penalty and it would not end well.
Anthony Mantha would bat a rebound up in the air, and would end up in the stick of TJ Oshie at the crease, it would bounce off the post, then he would knock it in from the back post. It would be such a call that would have famous analyst Bill Raftery screaming: “ONIONS!” It was elation for the Caps bench and Capital One Arena, and heartbreak on the side of the Panthers.
Overtime: THEY DID IT!!!!!
At the start of overtime, everyone expected the game to end in a Caps OT winner and send it to game 7 in South Florida.
But… the Panthers had Carter Verhaeghe in huge moments for a purpose, and at 2:46 in the first OT, he would have his moment.
Claude Giroux would set up a perfect pass to Verhaeghe, who would send the perfect shot home past Samsonov.
The 1996 curse is now gone. There are no more reputations of losing in the first round. No more heartbreaks. No more losses.
Next Up
The Panthers will play either the Toronto Maple Leafs or Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round. Their series will be decided Saturday night in Game 7.