BOSTON — With the game tied and barely 100 seconds left on the clock, Florida Panthers center Anton Lundell entered the offensive zone and fired a shot at Jeremy Swayman. The Boston Bruins goaltender, as he has done so often, made the save.

But the puck bounced loose and defenseman Gustav Forsling got the second attempt past Swayman. The Panthers bench erupted in celebration. All that was left to do was kill off the rest of the clock.

They did.

And with that, the Florida Panthers are heading back to the Eastern Conference final after a 2-1, series-clinching win over the Boston Bruins on Friday in Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoffs series at Boston’s TD Garden.

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

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.

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.

©2024 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.