Panthers’ Anton Lundell ‘likes the big moment.’ It’s been on display in the playoffs

The opportunity found Anton Lundell, and if Anton Lundell has shown anything to his Florida Panthers teammates and to the hockey world during these Stanley Cup playoffs, it’s that he doesn’t shy away from the moment.

So when a blocked shot attempt landed on Lundell’s stick in the slot late in the second period on Friday, he fired away.

The shot whizzed past Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who to that point had stopped all 14 shots Florida had sent his way, to tie the game.

And then, with about a minute-and-a-half left in regulation and the score still tied, it was Lundell who set up defenseman Gustav Forsling’s game-winning goal to lift the Panthers to a 2-1, series-clinching win over the Bruins at TD Garden to send Florida to the Eastern Conference final for a second consecutive season.

“That was huge,” Lundell said of the game-tying goal. “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 was huge to get that. It was a tight game, but we believed and just kept going and never quit.”

Lundell, still just 22 years old as he wraps up his third NHL season, is playing a game well beyond his years. He has shown that he can mold his game to best fit the wingers on his line and can adapt to playing with different teammates on the fly. He has displayed a strong two-way, defense-first game with a knack for offense.

And now, in his third trip to the postseason, Lundell is showing that he can be relied upon to step up when his team needs its the most.

“I think it’s an inner confidence about him,” Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said. “He believes in himself and he wants to be a difference maker. For a young kid, it’s easy to have the opposite and shy away from the big moment but I think he’s got a little bit of that internal swagger that he just wants to get the job done and he likes the challenge. He’s the guy that likes to match up against the other team’s top centermen because it brings out his best game.

“He likes the big moment.”

The big moment can manifest in different ways.

Take the Panthers’ first-round series against the Lightning, for example. Panthers coach Paul Maurice had tasked Lundell with centering Florida’s second forward line with Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk after Sam Bennett suffered a hand/wrist injury in Game 2 of that series that ultimately caused him to miss five games.

It continued with his big moments in the Boston series. Lundell logged five points — two goals, three assists — in six games against the Bruins.

Both of his goals wound up being crucial.

In Game 4, his wrist shot from the left circle on a feed from Rodrigues was the first of three unanswered goals in Florida’s eventual 3-2 win. Lundell also assisted on Bennett’s game-tying power-play goal early in the third period.

And then in Game 6, he had the game-tying goal and primary assist on the game-winner.

“He’s had a hell of a playoffs,” Tkachuk said. “He was great in the Tampa series and was great again this series.”

Maurice first saw the true glimpse of Lundell’s moxie during the Panthers’ second-round series last postseason against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Florida was down two goals in Game 2 of that series. Lundell wound up scoring the team’s first goal of the game — and his first of the playoffs — to spark the team to a comeback win.

Pretty similar to what he just did twice in Boston.

“Lundell’s on fire,” Maurice said. “He’s playing a different game now than I’ve ever seen him play.”

And both Lundell individually and the Panthers collectively know he’s just scratching the surface of what he can become — and that there will be more moments for him to show just how far he can go.

“He’s a hardworking kid,” said Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, who has served as a mentor to his fellow Finn. “You would not think he was that young with his approach to professional hockey and being a professional in this league. He’s working really hard and he wants to learn something every day. All the time he is asking questions — stupid questions, good questions, it doesn’t matter; he is asking the questions and he wants to learn, so that’s great.”