Florida Panthers celebrate shock Boston Bruins playoff win in massive NHL upset

The Florida Panthers celebrated a shock that “no one in all the world” could have predicted after knocking out the Boston Bruins in the NHL playoffs with an epic Game 7 victory in overtime.

Brandon Montour tied the score with 1 minute left in the rules, and Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winner at 8:35 overtime. The Panthers won three in a row after trailing 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Boston, the Presidents’ Trophy winners with NHL records of 65 wins and 135 points, had not lost three straight all season.

Game 7. Win overtime. Against pretty much the best team in regular season history. It’s unreal,” said Panthers center Aleksander Barkov after Florida beat Boston 4-3 in OT to eliminate the record-breaking Bruins from the playoffs.

“Sure, it’s up there, and it’s hard to understand right now. I don’t think we need to understand now. We’ll understand later.’

Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk added, “The fact that we were able to do what we did after what they did all year. They are an unreal team and the best I’ve played on in my NHL career. It was crazy that we could beat them.

“Let’s face it, no one in the whole world thought we’d win that series, except the guys in that room.”

Florida coach Paul Maurice was emotional in his post-game statements. Sunday’s win took his Game 7 record to an impressive 4-0.

“I don’t think you can find a harder team to play against than the Boston Bruins. They’ll test you,” he said.

“The players here now have a shared experience of what is difficult. It will make us better for five years. It was that hard.’

Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves for Florida, which advanced for the second time in the postseason since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 1996.

They will then face the Toronto Maple Leafs, which shut down the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games on Saturday. The series starts Tuesday night.