Bobrovsky helps save Panthers season in Game 5 of Eastern 1st Round

BOSTON -- If there was one lasting image from Game 5 between the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers, it would have been the final seconds of the third period, when an offensive zone face-off for the Panthers quickly turned into the most dangerous moment of the night.

Memorable, that is, to everyone except Sergei Bobrovsky.
With 6.7 seconds remaining in regulation, Brad Marchand got his stick on the puck off the face-off and skirted around two defenders, racing alone down the center of the ice. There were 2 seconds left when he caught up to the puck, 0.9 seconds left when he took the shot, and 0.6 left when Bobrovsky stopped the puck and saved the Panthers season.
"I already forgot about that, to be honest," Bobrovsky said, after it was all over, after the game had shifted to overtime, after Matthew Tkachuk scored the game-winner at 6:05 of the extra session
for a 4-3 victory
at TD Garden that extended the Eastern Conference First Round to Game 6.

Instead of a handshake line, the Panthers and Bruins will get back on planes and reconvene at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, TVAS, SN, BSFL, NESN) with Boston leading 3-2 in the best-of-7 series.
"It's just a save of the moment, a play by the moment," Bobrovsky said. "I knew it's not much time left on the clock, so he's probably going to shoot the puck. I tried to get my position there, be aggressive. Was lucky to have that save."
But while Bobrovsky might (or might not) have let the play of the night slip his mind, it was visceral after the game to Panthers coach Paul Maurice. He paused when asked about it, letting the replay dance through his mind, searching for words.
He was inexplicably calm.
"I knew it wasn't going in," Maurice said. "And you can't know it's not going in, so I'm full of expletive] what I just said to you. But I don't feel that we've had a whole lot of advantage in this series in the karma of the game. That's a nice way of saying I disagree with a number of the calls. And I just felt that we had stored up enough karma that that puck shouldn't go in.
"And then profanity. Just like long stretches of nasty stuff."
Maurice started the series with Alex Lyon in net after Lyon had won six consecutive games down the stretch to give Florida the chance to capture the second wild card in the East. But Bobrovsky, who had been out since March 27 because of illness, replaced Lyon late in Game 3 and has started the past two games.
[RELATED: [Complete Bruins vs. Panthers series coverage]
Bobrovsky allowed five goals on 30 shots in Game 4, a 6-2 loss. But he turned in a masterpiece in Game 5.
"The decision to play Sergei Bobrovsky was made right by Sergei Bobrovsky," Maurice said. "I had an even call on both goaltenders in my mind going into this game. But I felt that the pressure needed to be on Sergei to play this game. He needed to carry that weight.
"And he was brilliant. And that is all him. It's not the coach's decision. It's not the faith I showed in him. That is all Sergei Bobrovsky."
And the team was resilient around him.
Every time the Panthers scored, the Bruins answered, dominating play through the second period and most of the third. Taylor Hall tied the score the last time, 3-3 at 9:16 of the third period, but Marchand couldn't convert that final chance of regulation. And at the end, when the game went to overtime, there would be no time for an answer.
It would be only Tkachuk.
"That guy is -- and then you put a long string of profanity -- a gamer," Maurice said. "Is he not a gamer?"
The Panthers had come into Boston having lost two straight games in Florida, putting their season on the brink of elimination. They had come in as the second wild card, playing against a team that set record after record in the regular season.
They had to win Wednesday. Or start their summer.
"Just desperate, obviously," Tkachuk said. "Had to be desperate. … I mean, we were supposed to get swept this series, right? Everyone was saying [it]. So I don't think anybody really gave us a chance after losing two games in a row at home and coming here in like a back-against-the-wall type of game.
"It just seemed like the series was over before that game even started. For us to come out with the start we did speaks a lot about our team, our preparation, our belief in each other. I think it just comes down to we just don't want our season to end."

And it wouldn't, not after Tkachuk made the Bruins pay when goalie Linus Ullmark turned the puck over to Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe on a misplay behind the net, allowing Tkachuk plenty of space to put it away for the win.
That sets up Game 6 in Florida on Friday. It sets up another chance for the Bruins to close the series -- and another chance for the Panthers to extend their season. It's another chance for Bobrovsky and Tkachuk to play the heroes.
Another chance, which was all they wanted.
"Now they're coming down to Florida and we know that there can't possibly be a Game 7 (on Sunday) in their mind right now and everybody here in Boston's mind," Tkachuk said. "So, it's just up to us to see you guys back here in a few days."