Florida, which lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games last season, will play either the Edmonton Oilers or the Dallas Stars. Edmonton leads the series 3-2 in 7.
“Last year we went this far and it was amazing,” Panthers captain Alexander Barkov said. “You wanted to do everything you could to get back here. We all know it’s not a big deal, not one day. You’ve got to start grinding in the summer, in training camp. … We all had the same goal, to get in good shape and come back. Here we are again. We are
Sam Bennett and Vladimir Tarasenko scored, and Sergey Bobrovsky made 23 saves for the Atlantic Division’s No. 1-ranked Panthers.
Artemy Panarin scored and Igor Shesterkin made 32 saves for the Rangers, who were the No. 1 seed from the Metropolitan Division and won the President’s Trophy as the NHL’s best team in the regular season.
“It was tough to score and we were producing the quality we wanted to produce,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “We know that coming from the road. [Florida] From the first and second round to finish the season. They didn’t give much away. Ultimately, it’s something we’ve been able to consistently do throughout the year. Check scores, games. Low-goal, one-goal games. Ultimately, finding the next goal within a game can be different.”
