Believe in miracles! Florida Panthers end mighty Boston’s season with 4-3 OT win in Game 7 | Opinion
If the Florida Panthers have a wall for trophies won, “the head of the beast” had better have an honored place high on it.
If they don’t have such a wall ... build it now.
The Panthers finished off the near-impossible in Game 7 Sunday night in Boston, winning a third straight must-win game against a Bruins team that set all-time NHL records for most victories and points in a season.
It was 4-3, in overtime, on the Carter Verhaeghe goal that stunned a home crowd dreaming of nothing less than the Stanley Cup.
So, yes: A Florida team that disappointed much of this season and scrambled late to barely make the postseason just accomplished the greatest series upset in hockey history.
“For our whole team here, it’s been us against the whole hockey world and what everybody says,” said the Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk. “Boston had the most successful home season in however many years, obviously the best season in NHL history. It’s going right at the head of the beast when you’re playing in Boston. We’re just excited to go after the head of the beast.”
The TV announcer called the Panthers “the underdog of all underdogs.”
That team just beat the beast.
In 1996, the newborn Panthers won a Game 7 against Pittsburgh to reach the Stanley Cup Final.
That was the biggest victory in club history.
This one felt bigger, even though it came in the first round.
Cats coach Paul Maurice: “You can’t find a better team to play against. It’s a proving ground you get to keep. Every one of our players now has an experience in what hard is.”
Florida moves on now to face the Toronto Maple Leafs. But how can that ever live up to this?
Down 3-1, written off, the Cats won in overtime in Boston Wednesday, then on Friday at home became the first team ever to lead entering the third period, fall behind twice, and still win.
That earned them Sunday night.
The Panthers led 1-0 mid-first period on Brandon Montour’s power-play goal, his fourth score of this series. It was the fourth straight game the Cats have scored a man-advantage goal, after suffering with that so badly last postseason.
Boston had benched star goaltender Linus Ullmark in favor of backup Jeremy Swayman for Game 7, and it may have cost them as Montour’s shot flew between Swayman’s legs for the score. Beyond that, the very idea of changing goalies for the ultimate game had to have perhaps conveyed panic within the dressing room.
It was 2-0, Cats, early in the second on Sam Reinhart’s fourth goal of the series and third straight game with one.
There was scattered booing from the fans of the team that had the best regular season ever.
But not for long.
Boston narrowed it to 2-1, mid-second, on David Krejci’s power-play goal, underlining the penalty-kill as a Florida weakness this series. Montour, for all his offensive contributions this postseason, spent three shifts in the penalty box in Game 7.
The Bruins tied it 2-2 on Tyler Bertuzzi’s re-direct in a power play ... with Montour in the box.
Boston had its first lead at 3-2 courtesy David Pastrnak, the 60-goal marksman.
It seemed over.
The Panthers pulled goalie Sergei Bobrovsky late to leave an open net, giving Florida the desperate man advantage you never want to have.
Then came Montour. Again. With a minute left in regulation — in the Panthers’ season — Montour cashed with 59.3 seconds left, stunning the Boston crowd and sending Game 7 to overtime.
“Just try to smack it on the net,” Montour described his mindset.
Do you believe in miracles?
Another one was coming:
Verhaeghe’s goal to send a No. 8 seed forward and stunningly end the season of (supposedly) the greatest team ever.
“They had a crazy regular season,” said Verhaeghe of the Bruins, “but the playoffs are completely different.”
It had to end not only in a Game 7, but also in overtime.
“We deserve it,” said Bobrovsky.
The Heat, Panthers and Marlins have played a combined 95 seasons and this was only the 16th Game 7 in all in South Florida sports.
That’s misleading, though. For the Heat (11 in 35 seasons), rolling a 7 is not that rare. But the Marlins have had only two in 31 seasons and this was only the Panthers’ third in their 29th season.
Florida won that Game 7 at home over Pittsburgh in 1996 in the Eastern finals to reach its only Stanley Cup Final. The Panthers lost a Game 7 at home to New Jersey in 2012 in the first round.
Sunday thus marked the franchise’s first Game 7 on the road. And it happened to be against the team that just had the single-greatest regular season in NHL history.
“Nobody in the whole world thought we were going to win this series,” said Tkachuk, “except the guys in this room.”
The Panthers, the second wild card from the Eastern Conference, finished 43 points behind the Bruins in the regular season — the biggest point differential in any NHL playoff series since 1996. That year, the underdog lost.
This underdog, “the underdog of all underdogs,” did not.
This underdog went after “the head of the beast,” and brought it home.
This story was originally published April 30, 2023 at 10:17 PM.
