Florida advances to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year and third time in franchise history

The Florida Panthers are heading back to the Stanley Cup Final!

Florida earned its second straight visit to the championship series thanks to Saturday’s 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The win claimed the best-of-7 series for the Panthers four games to two.

Once the game began, opening period was filled with excitement as both teams came up with high danger chances in the early stages.

Power plays each way would end without a goal being scored thanks to some excellent goaltending by Igor Shesterkin and Sergei Bobrovsky.

It wasn’t until the final minute of the opening period that someone broke the ice, and it was Sam Bennett that got things started.

Bennett raised his stick for a drop pass from Evan Rodrigues after they moved into the Rangers zone and fired a perfectly placed one-timer over Shesterkin’s glove and into the top corner of the net to give Florida a 1-0 lead with 48.5 to go in the period.

The Rangers put up 9 shots during the middle frame, with the majority coming from outside of the high and medium dangers areas of the offensive zone.

Florida had several good looks on Shesterkin, including a Matthew Tkachuk breakaway that was stopped by the superstar goalie’s left pad.T

The Panthers were able to get an all-important insurance goal about halfway through the third period, and it came off a hustle play forced turnover.

Eetu Luostarinen beat K’Andre Miller to a loose puck in the Rangers zone, dropping a quick pass to Anton Lundell who wired a perfect feed across the crease to a cutting Vladimir Tarasenko.

The Trade Deadline addition slammed the puck into the back of the net, giving Florida a 2-0 lead with 10:52 to go.

It's a good thing too, because Artemi Panarin scored with 1:39 to go and Shesterkin on the Rangers bench.

That would be the last gasp for the Presidents' Trophy winners. 

On to the Stanley Cup Final. 

Game 1 is Saturday from Dallas or Sunrise.

Here are some thoughts and observations from Game 6 in Sunrise:

Bennett has now scored in three straight games. He’s up to six goals and 10 points in 12 playoff games.

He also matched Panthers franchise records for goals in consecutive playoff games and goals scored during the conference final (four, equaling Tkachuk from last season)

Both teams went 0-for-1 on the power play.

The Panthers improved to 8-0 when scoring the first goal in potential series-clinching games.

Tarasenko’s timely goal was his first point of the conference final. 

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