May 14, 2024, 10:13 PM ET
SUNRISE, Fla. — Jeremy Swayman said the series would return to Boston. And he backed up that claim in a big way.
Swayman made 28 saves, Charlie McAvoy added to the list of disputed goals in this matchup with the go-ahead score and the Boston Bruins staved off elimination by beating the Florida Panthers 2-1 in Game 5 of their Stanley Cup playoff series Tuesday night.
The biggest stop of Swayman’s night might have been his last: He stoned Florida’s Sam Reinhart from close range with about 8 seconds left, and the Bruins — just as he vowed — left Florida winners.
“We have a goaltender that’s extremely confident,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “His swagger gives confidence.”
Morgan Geekie also scored for the Bruins, who improved to 2-0 in elimination games this season — they also won Game 7 over Toronto in Round 1 — and finally found a way to hold the Panthers’ offense in check.
Reinhart scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots. The Panthers had just four shots in the first, then got 25 to Swayman in the final 40 minutes.
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“We had our missed opportunities,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “There’s a losing coach’s line: ‘We had our chances.’ I didn’t like our game. But I like the fact that from where we were in the first, we got into a much, much better place in the second and third.”
Florida — which saw its series lead cut to 3-2 — had 15 goals on 107 shots in Games 2, 3 and 4 combined, all of them Panthers wins. But on Tuesday, the Panthers were held to 29 shots and Swayman looked in total control the whole way.
Game 6 is in Boston on Friday. Game 7, if necessary, would be back in Florida on Sunday.
“The reality is that we’re going to go to Florida and we’re going to play the same game and we’re going to get it done,” Swayman said after Game 4. “I have no doubt in this group. And we have a lot of confidence and a lot of motivation to bring it back to Boston.”
It’s going back to Boston.
“I just can’t…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40149001/jeremy-swayman-boston-bruins-dodge-elimination-game-5
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Publish date : 2024-05-15 04:23:54
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