The NHL season was supposed to end on Saturday but a snowed-out game between Florida and Boston on January 4 could not find another date and the NHL decided to play it tonight, giving the Panthers their fifth game in seven nights.
The game had implications for four NHL teams in the playoffs: Boston, Tampa Bay, Toronto and New Jersey. If Boston would win the game, they would finish first in the Atlantic and face the Devils while the Lightning and the Maple Leafs would tangle in the other series. If Boston lost in any manner, they would host Toronto while Tampa Bay would play the Devils.
The Panthers were eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday afternoon when the Flyers won so the only role they could play was as the spoilers.
As a side note, the Atlantic division had a very weird split. The top three teams (Boston, Tampa Bay and Toronto) sported three of the top six records in the NHL, while the bottom four teams (Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal and Detroit) had four of the six worst records in the NHL. Poor Florida was not good enough to make the post-season and 20-plus points better than the rest of the division.
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FLORIDA 4 BOSTON 2
Well, it’s going to be Boston-Toronto and Tampa Bay-New Jersey as the Panthers upset the hometown Bruins 4-2.
With the Panthers eliminated, they started James Reimer for the second straight night, and he was great as he stopped 33-of-35 shots to pick up the win. Unfortunately, Reimer was not around at the end of the game as he suffered a knee injury with 8:07 to go in the third, forcing Florida to put Roberto Luongo in net. Luongo was perfect in stopping all eight shots to gain the save with Reimer getting the win.
The Bruins trailed 3-1 heading into the third and pulled out all the stops to finish first in the Atlantic as they outshot Florida 26-6 in the final stanza but were able to beat Reimer only once in the period.
Frank Vatrano, who was dealt to the Panthers from Boston for a third round pick on February 22, had a hand in the first two Florida goals with an assist on Henrik Borgstrom’s goal and potted his seventh of the season as the two goals sandwiched a David Backes goal in the first.
It was Borgstrom’s first career goal in only his fourth NHL game. The Finnish forward signed a three-year entry level deal two weeks ago after a successful couple of seasons at the University of Denver where he had 45 goals and 95 points in 77 games. He was the Panthers first round pick and 23rd overall in 2016 and is a good one. Keep an eye on him as he came on like gangbusters in 2016 after being overlooked when he was eligible for the 2015 Draft.
Maxim Mamin scored the only goal of the second to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead. It was only his third of the season.
David Pastrnak potted his 35th of the season to bring the Bruins to within one as he scored on the power play. As mentioned earlier, the Bruins threw everything but the kitchen sink at Reimer and then Luongo but their fate was sealed with 1:49 left as Evgenii Dadonov scored his 28th of the season. Dadonov was a great acquisition for the Panthers as he had 65 points in 74 games and should be fairly high on your list next season.
Tuukka Rask was mediocre in goal for the Bruins and that has to be disconcerting for Boston as they enter the post-season. Rask lost his last three in a row, giving up 11 goals on 97 shots. That is not Stanley Cup worthy.
Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak led the way for Boston with seven shots apiece on net.
Notes: Connor McDavid, the Art Ross Trophy winner the last two seasons in a row, will go to Denmark with Team Canada for the World Championships in May…Sidney Crosby had nine points this season in four games against the Flyers and that will be their first round opponent…The Capitals may go with Philipp Grubauer in goal for Game 1 rather than Braden Holtby who has been Washington’s number one goalie the last five seasons…Lots of players have been returned to the minors on teams that did not make the playoffs including Dylan Strome, Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil…Oscar Klefbom received some great news in that he will only need six weeks of recovery following his shoulder surgery. Doctors removed 22 bone fragments as the shoulder had been bothering him for years. Look for a big season next year from the Oilers top blueliner…Johnny Boychuk will undergo undisclosed surgery on Monday and is expected to be 100 percent by June…Hopefully Boychuk will let the doctors know what the problem is.
