The Florida Panthers and New York Rangers entered Game 5 on Thursday night with their Eastern Conference final series tied at two games apiece.
After the visiting Panthers beat the Rangers 3-2, they will take the same lead back home for Saturday night's potential series-clinching game (8 p.m. Eastern, ABC/ESPN+).
Here's what stood out in Florida's win, along with the key players to watch in Game 6 and the biggest question remaining.
Panthers Grade: B+
The Panthers controlled possession. They made it difficult for the Rangers to find the time necessary to settle into the offensive zone over the final two periods.
Above all, they found ways to get to the front of the net while also ensuring that the Rangers struggled in that department, beyond the late goal Alexis Lafreniere scored to cut the margin to one goal.
If not for Igor Shesterkin, the Panthers may have won by a larger margin and headed into a Game 6 that could see them return to a back-to-back Stanley Cup Final for the first time in their team's history.
Exercising patience has been crucial for the Panthers during these playoffs. Look no further than the events that led to an empty-net goal. They set up in front of Sergei Bobrovsky's net before controlling and pressuring the Rangers into a mistake, en route to taking a two-goal lead. If they replicate that formula consistently in Game 6, the Panthers will become the first team to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final.
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Sam Bennett's goal increases Panthers' lead late
Sam Bennett scores an empty-net goal to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead against the Rangers.
Rangers Grade: B-
Watching Lafreniere approach the net and score did more than cut the lead to 3-2 with less than a minute left. It was one of the few times the Rangers were able to really establish themselves in the offensive zone while having a player in position to score a goal in a part of the ice that the Panthers worked heavily to remove. Is that repeatable in future games?
Finding space was a challenge for the Rangers once the second half began. They went from 11 shots in the first half to a total of 11 more in the next 32 minutes of the game. They ended up with 27, and quite a few of them were long distance.
Even with those 11 shots in the first period, Natural Stat Trick metrics show the Rangers had a 46% shooting percentage in 5-on-5 games. The inability to consistently win possession was further compounded by the fact that the Panthers had 18 high-danger chances, while only allowing seven high-danger chances to the Rangers. A case in point was Sam Reinhart's shot on goal that Shesterkin stopped with 5:49 left.
Another element that didn't help was that the Rangers, who have the second-best power play unit of the remaining four teams, received only one penalty; However, they get bonus points for a shorthanded goal by Chris Kreider, his first goal of the series.
Players to watch in Game 6
Gustavo Forsling. This goes beyond the fact that he scored the tying goal. What Forsling did in Game 5 is an extension of what he has done this season and how he emerged as one of the Panthers' most important players.
Much of the Panthers' success has been their ability to take time and space away from opponents, with the idea being that they can quickly get into the offensive zone. Forsling has allowed the Panthers to find success in both zones as he averages over 23 minutes per game during the Panthers' postseason run. He will be critical again as they look to defeat the Rangers on Saturday.
Artemi Panarin. Things get complicated when one chooses how to measure Panarin's production. He has arguably been the Rangers' strongest facilitator in the postseason while still being a threat to score his own goals. The four shots he had on net in Game 5 are the most he has had since the second round of Game 6 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Panarin's ability to create for others has been more than vital for the Rangers. But if he can find a way to score a goal in Game 6, that would play a big role in the Rangers forcing a Game 7. If not, there are obviously other ways the Rangers could win and get to Game 7. But as Game 5 showed that getting as many offensive contributions as possible from star players will only make things easier.
Big question for Game 6: Can the Rangers find some kind of success on the power play?
Success is a relative term when it comes to the Rangers' power play right now – does success break through to score a goal? Or would the first piece to achieving success simply be finding a way to participate in the power play?
Coming into Game 5, the Rangers have had one of the best extra skater advantages in the NHL during the playoffs as a whole, but have struggled since reaching the conference final round. They have converted only 9.1% of their power play opportunities. Having such a low success rate is made more of a problem by the fact that they only had one power play in Game 5; On the contrary, they saw one of their three opportunities taken advantage of in Game 4. So the task ahead is to impose more penalties and make the Panthers pay when they do.
