After Florida pulled off the improbable Sunday night, Matthew Tkachuk called his team’s first-round Stanley Cup playoffs win over the Bruins the “biggest upset in NHL history, to every single person other than the Panthers.”
But for a moment in Game 7, even the ever-confident Florida star thought about the possibility of the Cats’ season coming to an end.
The Panthers’ unlikely postseason run was on life support when they trailed the Bruins 3-2 with minutes to play in the final contest of the best-of-seven set at TD Garden. Florida head coach Paul Maurice called a timeout with 1:28 left to play in regulation, and at that juncture, a little doubt crept into Tkachuk’s mind.
“We were two minutes away from being in a very sad mood right now,” Tkachuk told reporters after the game, per the team. “I guess maybe there was a tiny bit that entered my mind during the timeout before the empty net, like, ‘Better score now or it’s over.’ That was the only time that I had that thought.”
Tkachuk’s doubts were short-lived, as Brandon Montour potted a game-tying goal merely 28 seconds after the visitors’ timeout. And in overtime, it was Carter Verhaeghe who played the role of hero for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card team.
Florida now is on to Round 2, where it will meet the Toronto Maple Leafs.
