Sam Bennett scored with 50 seconds left in the first period and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves as the Florida Panthers defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 on Saturday night in Sunrise, Florida, to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers will get their third chance to play for the Stanley Cup since entering the league as an expansion team in the 1993-94 season. Florida won the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals 4-2 by winning Games 4, 5 and 6, avoiding a trip back to New York for Game 7, which would have been on Monday.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the third period as the Panthers eliminated a Presidents’ Trophy team for the second straight season. In 2023, Florida overcame a 3-1 deficit in a first-round playoff series to defeat the 65-win Boston Bruins.
