BOSTON — Matthew Tkachuk has been a thorn in the Bruins’ sides throughout the five games in the first-round series.
On Wednesday night, he added to his villainess resume when he potted the game-winning goal in overtime for the Florida Panthers, extending their playoff lives.
Linus Ullmark played the puck behind his own net, but Carter Verheaghe stood in the path of the attempted wrap and fed Tkachuk for his third goal of the postseason. Tkachuk noted his team played with desperation, and it paid off.
“I mean, we’re supposed to get swept in the series, right?” Tkachuk said postgame. “Everyone’s saying so. I don’t think anybody really gave us a chance after losing two games in a row and at home and coming here and like back against the wall type game with it just seemed like the series was over before the game even started.”
Tkachuk knows even though Florida won Game 5 to extend the series, they will have to play with the same desperation in Game 6 on Friday night.
“Now they’re coming down to Florida, and we know that there can’t possibly be a game seven in their mind right now,” Tkachuk said. “And everybody here in Boston’s mind, so it’s just up to us to see you guys back here in a few days.”
The Panthers never trailed in Game 5, but every time Florida took the lead, the Bruins would battle back and tie the game, ultimately sending it to extra frames, where the Cats lived to see another game.
“Yeah, just didn’t want to season out tonight. Like it’s a very simple answer, but we truly just wanted to keep this thing going,” Tkachuk said.
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice had a rather peculiar description of the greasy forward.
“That guy is a — and then you put a long string of profanity — gamer. Is he not a gamer?” Maurice said postgame per team-provided transcript. “I can’t tell you how many times he did that in Calgary to us in Winnipeg; drives me crazy how he can just pull a puck. I don’t know, and there’s what, 700 other guys in the league? Six hundred and forty of them jam that thing as fast as they can in the net and lose, and he pulls it across; he’s just a gamer. Use your own words, just X’s.”
The Bruins will travel to Sunrise, Fla. for Game 6 on Friday night. Puck drop from FLA Live Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. You can catch the game on NESN, along with an hour of pregame coverage.
