Five key stats from the Florida Panthers’ Game 5 win over the New York Rangers

BY JORDAN MCPHERSON

MAY 31, 2024 12:27 PM

NEW YORK

The Florida Panthers got one step closer to returning to the Stanley Cup Finals with a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

Florida now leads the best-of-7 series 3-2 and needs just one more win to reach the Stanley Cup Finals for a second consecutive season. Game 5 is at 8 p.m. Saturday at Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena.

Here are five key stats from the Panthers’ win on Thursday:

▪ 0: The Panthers did not allow a goal when the game was at 5-on-5, with the Rangers’ two goals coming via a Chris Kreider short-handed goal in the second period and Alexis Lafraniere scoring with about 50 seconds left with New York at 6-on-5 with their goaltender pulled.

At even strength, Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was a perfect 17 for 17.

Throughout the playoffs, Bobrovsky has a .918 save percentage when the game is at 5-on-5 (24 goals allowed on 293 shots on goal). In the series against the Rangers, Bobrovsky’s save percentage is .923 (seven goals allowed on 91 shot attempts) at five-on-five.

▪ 40: The win Thursday was Bobrovsky’s 40th career playoff win. He is one of four active goaltenders to have 40 career playoff wins, joining Marc-Andre Fleury (92), Andrei Vasilevskiy (66) and Jonathan Quick (49).

Sergei Bobrovsky is 7-2 in his nine career appearances in conference final games.

▪ 10: Defenseman Gustav Forsling’s goal in the second period, a backhanded shot from up close on a feed from Sam Bennett, was the Panthers’ 10th game-tying goal of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. That’s the most among all teams.

▪ 6-3: The Panthers’ record in one-goal games this playoffs. Florida is used to playing in tight games. They had 32 games in the regular season decided by one goal and went 19-6-7 in those scenarios. There have been 41 games decided by a one-goal margin this playoffs — the most at this stage of a postseason since 2017 (48 in 78 games played).

▪ 5: After Bennett’s empty-net goal in the third period, the Panthers have an NHL-high five players who have scored at least five goals this playoffs: Carter Verhaeghe (nine), Sam Reinhart (eight), Aleksander Barkov (six), Matthew Tkachuk (five) and Bennett (five).

Florida also has six players with at least 11 points this postseason: Tkachuk (19), Verhaeghe (17), Barkov (17), Reinhart (12), Forsling (11) and Anton Lundell (11).

Fourteen Panthers players overall have recorded at least one goal and 18 of 20 have produced at least one point — 19 of 21 if you factor in Bobrovsky’s secondary assist on Bennett’s goal in Game 4 against the Rangers.