One of the benefits of the Boston Bruins finishing with an NHL-record 65 wins and 135 points is that they earned home-ice advantage through the Stanley Cup playoffs.
They will need it in the first round as the Florida Panthers have rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to force a Game 7. The game will be played Sunday at Boston’s TD Garden.
The Panthers won 7-5 on Friday night and once again, Matthew Tkachuk was a major reason why. Credit also goes to the Panthers’ video crew.
Tkachuk, the Panthers’ major offseason acquisition, had two goals and an assist, factoring in the first two Florida goals and the goal that tied the game 5-5.
Eetu Luostarinen scored the winning goal for the Panthers, who finished 43 points behind the Bruins in the standings.
The video review became less important because of the high number of goals, but the Panthers noticed that Boston’s Jake DeBrusk had made a subtle hand pass to Patrice Bergeron well before Brandon Carlo had scored to put Boston up 3-2. The play looked almost like it was an accident, but the goal was overturned.
Although Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark gave up his most goals in a game this season, the Bruins have some positives as they try to avoid a major collapse.
David Pastrnak, a 61-goal scorer in the regular season, scored twice after being held to two goals in the first five games. That included a brilliant, between-his-legs goal.
DeBrusk made up for the overturned goal with a short-handed tally and Tyler Bertuzzi scored twice.
But Panthers star Aleksander Barkov scored his first goal of the series, which could spell trouble for the Bruins if he gets going.
Boston went 34-4-3 at home in the regular season, but the Panthers won at TD Garden twice in the series.
HURRICANES 2, ISLANDERS 1 (OT)
NEW YORK (AP) – Paul Stastny scored 6:01 into overtime, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 2-1 on Friday night in Game 6 to advance to the second round.
Sebastian Aho tied it midway through the third period for the Hurricanes. Frederik Andersen stopped 35 shots while making his first start of the postseason.
Cal Clutterbuck scored for the Islanders and Ilya Sorokin finished with 39 saves. New York was eliminated in the first round for the first time in their last five trips to the postseason.
The Hurricanes will face the winner of the series between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils. The Devils lead 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Saturday night.
Contributing: Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NHL playoffs: Panthers force Game 7 vs. Bruins; Hurricanes advance