Panthers take down Rangers 2-1, clinch trip to second straight Stanley Cup Final

The Panthers got goals from Sam Bennett and Vladimir Tarasenko, punching their ticket to a second straight Stanley Cup Final.

SUNRISE — Paul Maurice has coached more games than anyone in NHL history without winning a Stanley Cup. He tried and came up just short in the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights last year.

He will get another bite at the apple now.

The Panthers beat the Rangers, who were this season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners, 2-1 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on Saturday, clinching a second straight trip to the championship round. Florida will face the winner of the Dallas-Edmonton Western Conference finals in the Stanley Cup Final, which begins on Saturday.

“We expected to be back here,” Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk said. “Obviously, nothing is guaranteed, but we were expecting this. The way we’ve been working, the way we’ve been dialed in, detailed. Right now, we’re very happy to be back, but we were going to be pushing for this and kind of expecting it, the way we put in all the work. So we’re very proud to be here, we’re very happy, but the job’s not finished.”

Both New York and Florida had good chances in the first period, but it was the Panthers who struck first. Sam Bennett won the puck back in the neutral zone and passed it to Evan Rodrigues. Rodrigues passed back to Bennett, who fired a one-timer over Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin’s left shoulder to put Florida up 1-0 in the final minute of the first period.

The Panthers clung to that lead through the second period as both teams had good opportunities to score. After giving up the first-period goal, Shesterkin returned to the stellar form that has carried the Rangers through the playoffs, making several high-level saves.

“I haven’t seen a series by a goaltender like that since Jose Theodore in 2002,” Maurice said. “(He) won the Hart Trophy (as the NHL’s MVP) that year.”

Shesterkin could not defend his net forever. About midway through the third period, center Anton Lundell fed Vladimir Tarasenko a pass directly in front of the net, and Tarasenko netted his third goal of the postseason to give the Panthers an insurance goal.

The insurance was needed, as Rangers star Artemi Panarin netted New York’s lone goal with 1:40 left in the third period. But it was too little, too late for New York.

Other than the late goal, Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was stellar like he has been for most of the postseason. He made 23 saves on 24 shots on goal.

“It is a luxury for sure,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “Hardest-working guy I’ve ever seen. You just know when a guy works that hard. He’s also super calm every single day at practice. He’s having fun. Morning skate, he’s having fun. Warmups, all that kind of stuff, you see him being in the zone. You just know he’s going to be on top of his game. He’s been unbelievable.”

Last year, the Panthers held the Prince of Wales Trophy after winning the Eastern Conference, going against superstition. This time around, Barkov made sure to keep the team from handling it.

“We touched it last year, and it didn’t work for us,” Bennett said. “So we thought we’d try something different this year.”