Forsling’s heroics lead Florida Panthers past Bruins and to Eastern Conference final

As the all-too-humble Gustav Forsling tried to describe arguably the biggest moment of his postseason career, the defenseman insisted he was just trying to make a play happen. Nothing too fancy. Nothing too serious. Put in the work and hope it leads to something.

The Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins were tied with just about 100 seconds left on the clock in Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoffs series as the Panthers gained control of the puck in the neutral zone and began their rush up the ice.

Matthew Tkachuk sent the puck to Forsling, who drove to the offensive zone before quickly giving the puck to Anton Lundell.

Lundell then fired a shot from just beyond the left circle that Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman stopped.

But the puck bounced loose and hit Forsling’s stick. The defenseman’s wrist shot on the second attempt beat Swayman.

Panthers goal. Panthers lead. The bench erupted in celebration.

All that was left to do was kill off the rest of the clock.

They did.

And with that, the Panthers are heading back to the Eastern Conference final after a 2-1, series-clinching win over the Bruins on Friday at Boston’s TD Garden.

“I really didn’t see it go in,” Forsling said. “I just saw someone else react. It was amazing.”

Next up for the Panthers: The New York Rangers for a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

But first, the Panthers are going to take a moment to enjoy what they just accomplished.

For a second consecutive season, they eliminated the Bruins from the playoffs on their home ice. Last year, it was in Game 7 of the first round, with the Panthers playing the underdog role after barely sneaking into the playoffs. This year, it was Game 6 of the second round, with Florida the favorite but still needing to scratch and claw its way past a Boston team that has the potential to give any team fits.

It was a team effort, as so many big Panthers wins end up being.

But Panthers coach Paul Maurice would have been remiss if not to single out Forsling’s performance.

So much of what Forsling does for the Panthers can fly under the radar to the general fan. His arguably one of the NHL’s best defensive defensemen, seemingly always at the right place making the right play at the right time. It doesn’t always translate into points but it’s critical for the team’s success.

The Panthers saw glimpses of that potential when general manager Bill Zito claimed him off waivers ahead of the 2020-21 season. They saw him flourish in that role. And they rewarded him with an eight-year contract extension in March.

And then he got rewarded again on Friday by scoring the game-winning goal in a playoff series clincher.

“We’re talking about things that aren’t easily measured,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I think that’s why with Gustav — there are different styles of defensemen. In his style, he’s the best.”

Added Forsling: “I’m not usually the guy who scores a game-winning goal. I’m trying to defend out there most of the time. So it’s fun to score and help your team win, but I’ll stick to defense.”

The rest of the team had its moments as well on Friday.

Lundell also scored for Florida, sending a wrist shot from the slot off a blocked shot past Swayman with 7:16 left in the second period to tie the game at 1-1.

“That was huge,” Lundell said. “I think our whole team was just waiting for that moment. The one goal that was going to bring us more energy and believe and be confident again.”

It helped shift momentum back in Florida’s favor after Boston took a 1-0 lead late in the first period despite the Panthers dominating for most of the opening frame.

For a span of 14:10 midway through that first period, the Panthers’ defense held the Bruins without a shot on goal. On either end of that stretch, though, Boston attacked in flurries. The Bruins got four shots on goal in the first 3:33 of the game — including a pair of shots in quick succession on Sergei Bobrovsky as he was sprawled out on the ice — and then three more shots on goal in the final 2:17 of the frame, including Pavel Zacha’s goal on a breakaway with 52.8 seconds left in the period.

Bobrovsky locked things down from there, stopping 22 of 23 shots overall, giving the Panthers the opportunity to mount their comeback and clinch the series.

Aleksander Barkov also blocked a David Pastrnak shot on a wide-open net with about three minutes left to help kill off a late Boston power play and set the stage for Forsling’s late heroics to close out yet another close game.

“We knew it was going to be like that,” Barkov said. “Almost every game was like that, especially the last few games. ... We’re really happy with the win.”