Panthers edge Rangers in Game 5, 1 win from Cup Final

NEW YORK -- Sam Bennett had a goal and an assist, and the Florida Panthers moved within one win of the Stanley Cup Final by defeating the New York Rangers 3-2 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

The Panthers can advance to the Cup Final for the second straight season with a win in Game 6 of the best-of-7 series in Sunrise, Florida, on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).

"Our approach is one game at a time," Bennett said. "We've got business to take care of still and all we're thinking about is Game 6 at home. Our entire focus is on that game right now."

Anton Lundell scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, and Gustav Forsling scored for Florida, the No. 1 seed from the Atlantic Division. Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves.

"It was a good battle by us," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "We showed up and played really well and happy for the win. Now we just got to recover and think about the next one."

Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist, and Mika Zibanejad had two assists for New York, the No. 1 seed from the Metropolitan Division. Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves.

"Tight game, pretty much a one-goal game difference throughout," Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. "We had some good looks and some rebounds. We got to find a way to get a couple more past [Bobrovsky]."

Lundell gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead at 10:22 of the third with a wrist shot from the left circle to beat Shesterkin, who was screened by Vladimir Tarasenko.

"That was huge," Lundell said. "We had some good chances in the third and we were playing pretty good. ... I felt like we just had chance after chance and we just kept grinding and trusted that we're going to get the chance and the goal, and we got it. We really just tried to stay on top of them and keep the lead."

Bennett scored an empty-net goal to extend it to 3-1 with 1:52 remaining for Florida, which has outscored New York 6-2 in the third period in the series.

"I think we have great composure," Bennett said. "Our starts haven't been great, haven't been what we wanted, but it just seems like as the game goes on, we are getting better and better."

Lafreniere made it 3-2 with 50 seconds left for the Rangers, who were 0-for-3 on the power play.

"Close isn't cutting it," Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said. "We got to capitalize on those chances in big spots. We have some looks but you don't win games based on getting looks, you got to capitalize."

Kreider gave New York a 1-0 lead at 2:04 of the second period with a short-handed goal. He broke up a pass attempt from Matthew Tkachuk in the defensive zone before skating in and scoring on a breakaway, wrapping the puck past Bobrovsky's left pad.

"He's fast, he gets going and just put the puck in his hands and let him do what he does," said Zibanejad, who had the primary assist.

Forsling tied it 1-1 at 8:21 of the second with a backhand from in close. He took a pass from Bennett that went between Lafreniere and Ryan Lindgren.

"I was just taking it to the middle. They kind of backed off a little bit," Bennett said. "I had 'Chuckie' on my left as well. I was thinking about passing to him and then 'Goose' made a great play to just skate right to the net, and I was able to find him in the middle and a great finish by him as well."

The Panthers are 13-for-14 on the penalty kill in the series.

"Guys do their job,” Bobrovsky said. “They just work hard. They have a tendency … they play loose and they just work hard. [The Rangers have] got a really good power play. They got really good weapons, there are guys."

The Rangers are facing elimination for the first time this postseason.

"A lot of confidence," Fox said. "Backs against the wall here. We are a pretty resilient group. I think we have responded well all year to situations where we want to get a win. Obviously, season on the line going there. … Just need to get the win there."

NOTES: Bobrovsky became the fourth active goalie to record 40 career playoff wins, joining Marc-Andre Fleury (92), Andrei Vasilevskiy (66) and Jonathan Quick (49). … Kreider tied Mark Messier for the most short-handed playoff goals in Rangers history with his third. He also played his 122nd playoff game, tying Dan Girardi for the most all-time among Rangers skaters. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist has played the most (130). … New York forward Filip Chytil returned to the lineup after being a scratch in Game 3. He played 10:34 and had one shot on goal. … The Rangers are 0-7 in Game 5 in the conference final round since 1986. … New York has two short-handed goals in the series (also Barclay Goodrow in Game 3).