In the hockey NHL, the conference finals started. The Florida Panthers took the first step towards the league finals when the New York Rangers lost 0-3 at home.
The conference finals of the Florida Panthers started convincingly in the hockey NHL. The team took its first berth in the league finals when it defeated the Eastern Conference regular season winner New York Rangers 3–0.
Playing in the away bowl, Florida ran away Matthew Tkachuk with a goal for a 1–0 lead at the end of the first period. The second set was scoreless, but in the third, Florida pressed more gas.
The two-goal lead was close even before the half of the period, but the Swedish defender by Oliver Ekman-Larsson the goal was disallowed after a challenge from Rangers. The reason was goalkeeper interference when Florida Ryan Lomberg drifted the New York goalkeeper by Igor Shesterkin to the area.
Four minutes before the end of the match, Florida’s two-goal lead was realized in a special way. of Florida Carter Verhaeghe shot the puck lightly towards the New York goal, in front of which the home team Alexis Lafreniere directed the shot unluckily into his own goal.
The final score was 3–0 to an empty net Sam Bennett.
Bobrovski’s seventh clean sheet of the season
Florida’s Tkachuk and Verhaeghe collected the most power points in the match, who each recorded power 1+1. Tkachuk has already amassed 16 power points in the playoffs, and the American forward now ranks fourth in the playoff points market.
However, Florida’s character was the goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky, who recorded his second career shutout in the NHL playoffs. He stopped every one of the Rangers’ 23 shots.
– The goalkeeper must be an experienced player to be able to put on such a performance. You have to take a moment to whistle, make important saves and understand that in the last ten minutes of the match he has to be Sergei, the head coach of Florida Paul Maurice incensed to ESPN.
The clean sheet was Bobrovski’s seventh of the season, as he kept a clean sheet six times in the regular season. The Russian goalkeeper, who lit up the atmosphere of Madison Square Garden, accepted the success calmly.
– There are only wins and losses in the playoffs. Then you don’t think about goals, but focus on one moment at a time. This was a big win for us, Bobrovski commented on the NHL website.
Alexander Barkov skippered Florida leads the match series 1–0. The next time the teams meet is the night before Saturday in New York.