The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Panthers defeat Caps, win first series since 1996
On the wrong side of a comeback effort this time, the Florida Panthers rebounded in overtime and made sure they wouldn’t need to go home to finish their first-round series.
Carter Verhaeghe scored the OT winner to send the Panthers to the second round by beating the Washington Capitals 4-3 in Game 6 Friday night. It’s the franchise’s first playoff series victory since 1996 when Florida reached the Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers are still eight wins from getting back to the final, but they will have home-ice advantage for their next series against either the crossstate rival Tampa Bay Lightning or the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Florida looked to be on the verge of a regulation victory when Gustav Forsling tripped Nicklas Backstrom with 1:09 left in the third period. T.J. Oshie scored 6 seconds into the Washington power play to send the sellout crowd of over 18,000 into a frenzy.
Those fans were silent after Verhaeghe scored his sixth goal of the series 2:46 into overtime. Verhaeghe, Florida’s leading scorer in the series, missed the morning skate and was considered a game-time decision. RANGERS 5, PENGUINS 3 » Chris Kreider’s long slap shot bounced over Louis Domingue and into the net with 1:28 left and New York won at Pittsburgh to push their thrilling first-round series to a deciding Game 7.
Kreider’s second of the game and fourth of the playoffs sent the series back to New York. Andrew Copp added an empty netter for good measure in the waning seconds. Game 7 is Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
Mike Zibanejad had two goals and two assists and Adam Fox had four assists. Igor Shesterkin stopped 31 shots to win at PPG Paints
Arena for the first time this series after getting chased by Pittsburgh in Games 3 and 4.
STARS 4, FLAMES 2 » Miro Heiskanen scored the goahead goal late in the second period for Dallas, which recovered after blowing an early two-goal lead at home and beat Calgary to force a deciding Game 7 in their first-round Western Conference series.