When Anton Lundell was a 13-year-old growing up in Finland, admiring the play of countrymate Aleksander Barkov with the Florida Panthers, his family took a vacation to New York. His father, Jan, a star goalie in the Finnish league, took him to tour an empty Madison Square Garden.
On Thursay night, an all-grown-up Lundell wasn’t sightseeing in Madison Square Garden. He was the sight.
He swooped into the New York Rangers zone, put a shot under the armpit of goalie Igor Shesterkin and scored the kind of goal in Madison Square Garden that his 13-year-old self couldn’t even dream up.
“Unreal,” he called that moment that broke a tie and carried the Panthers to a 3-2 win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Someone pinch him.
Or better yet, pinch yourself.
This team isn’t dreaming. That was last spring’s theme for them. They’re too good this season for simple dreaming. They’re one win from a repeat trip to the Stanley Cup Final, and they’re coming home for Game 6 in Sunrise to get it Saturday night.
One more win. One good night. Maybe just one great third period like the one they had Thursday night and they’ll be playing Dallas or Edmonton for the Stanley Cup.
“We just decided after rthe second period it was time to step up,” Lundell said. “Everybody did. We all wanted to step up.”
They’d met the Rangers’ best game for an even two periods. All you heard out of New York before this was the Rangers stars needed to stop up. Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin were goal-less. So when Kreider turned a Matthew Tkachuk turnover into a shorthanded goal and a 1-0 lead there was double-applause in Madison Square Garden for one of their stars coming through in such an opportunistic way.
That’s the way the Rangers have stayed in this series despite being swamped at times by the Panthers play. They’ve made the most of chances. A couple short-handed goals. A couple over-time winners. And goalie Igor Shesterkin, who was simply solid, not dominant on Thursday night.
The Panthers, meanwhile, keep getting big moments from their biggest stars. Gustav Forsling made a simple poke check just inside the Panthers zone in Thursday’s second period, sprinted down the ice, took a threaded pass from Sam Bennett and put a backhand off Shesterkin into the net to tie it 1-1.
There it stood after an even two periods. That’s when Lundell noted everyone said it was time to be better. Stats were close, for once. Analytics like possession time in the offensive zone favored the Rangers. But the third period has been money time for the Panthers. They’ve outscored opponents by 14 goals in the third period in the playoffs,
Thursday was no different. They took seven of the first eight shots in the period. Even a penalty to Niko Mikkola didn’t matter. The Panthers have killed 31 of their last 33 penalties (short-handed goals by opponents are another matter).
Then came Lundell’s moment. He’s a rising star for this team. Coach Paul Maurice moved him up to the second-line center earlier this series for a while. Now he was back on the third line and you could see their work build on three successive shifts. First, Lundell made a move where he put the puck through his legs in front of Shesterkin to get off a shot. Next shift, linemate Eetu Luostarinen did the same.
“I thought it was important for our line to get energy,” Lundell said. “We had some great chances and, finally, we got he goal as well.”
Vladimir Tarasenko moved to the net to screen Shesterkin. That helped Lundell’s shot to sneak through an opening into the net. He was a first-round pick three years ago. He lived with Barkov for a while as a rookie. Now he’s stepping out into stardom on his own. And he’s just 22.
“We have no idea how good he can be,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “But we’re going to find out. It’ll just take a while.”
Sam Bennett’s empty-netter made it 3-1 and Madison Square Garden started emptying. The Rangers got a last-minute goal, but this night was done. The Panthers were coming home needing one more win to get back to the Final they’ve thought of all year. Not that they’re thinking ahead like that.
“I don’t think we’ve thought about it at all,” Bennett said. “Our approach is one game at a time. We’ve got business to take of still. All we’re thining about is Game 6 at home.”
They had a good trip to New York — a good couple of trips, really, as they’ve won two of three games in Madison Square Garden this series. They just don’t want to return there for a Game 7.