News about Aleksander Barkov

Not since Boston and Los Angeles in 2020 has the sports world's attention and curiosity been so concentrated on one area of America as Florida in 2023. The Boston Red Sox were reigning World Series champions, the New England Patriots were Super Bowl champions, and the Boston Bruins had reached the Stanley Cup Finals by the summer of 2019. The following year was devoted to Los Angeles, where the Dodgers snapped a 32-year championship drought ended and the Lakers claimed their first NBA title in the bubble.

Despite being a lowly eighth seed, the Florida Panthers have taken a 3-0 lead over the Carolina Panthers in the Eastern Conference Finals and are just one win away from playing for the Stanley Cup. On Monday, Aleksander Barkov scored the game's only goal midway through the first period on assists from Matthew Tkachachuk and Sam Bennett. The 2006 Edmonton Oilers advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals by winning in Sunrise again on Friday, becoming just the third eighth seed in NHL history to reach the championships, but the Los Angeles Kings honed the Cup in 2012.

Matthew Tkachachuk made it back to the Panthers in Raleigh, netting an overtime goal to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals, bringing a 2-0 advantage. It was technically the second game of the series, but it was effectively the third after the two teams played a four-overtime marathon in the opener on Thursday - a game that also featured a Tkachuk winner. In the first period, Jalen Chatfield of North Carolina got the Hurricanes on the board, scoring his first career playoff goal on assists from Sebastian Aho and Stefan Noesen. However, Florida did not stay down long as Aleksander Barkov netted the equalizer with an assist from Josh Mahura in the second period, as has been the case throughout the playoffs.

Consider the Toronto Maple Leafs as the most complete NHL elite to be completely confounded by the eighth-seeded Florida Panthers. The Panthers defeated the Leafs 3-2 in Toronto on Thursday, giving them a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals following their first-round upset of the top-seeded Boston Bruins. Sheldon Keefe, the Leafs' head coach, was particularly worried about the Panthers' second-period results, in which the Panthers scored two unanswered goals. 'Disappointing' Keefe said, 'Baffling.' We didn't make those mistakes one time in the last series [first round against Tampa].'

The Boston Bruins are done, with a long offseason to worry about their inability to capitalize on the NHL's best regular season in history. The Florida Panthers are also progressing into their second-round match against the Toronto Maple Leafs. 'Game 7' is a video game.' Overtime triumph wins. Against arguably the best team in regular-season history. It's unbelievable,' Panthers center Aleksander Barkov said after Florida defeated Boston 4-3 in overtime to ban the record-setting Bruins from the playoffs.

After surviving a dramatic third period to defeat the Boston Bruins, 7-5 in Friday's Game 6, the Florida Panthers are still alive in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. The game now shifts back to Boston, where the highly favored Bruins will try to prevent elimination - and embarrassment - in Game 7 on Sunday. The two teams combined for seven third-period goals, three of which occurred in a four-minute span in the middle of the game.