Matthew Tkachuk scored 6:05 into overtime as the Florida Panthers staved off elimination with a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference First Round series at TD Garden.
Boston now leads the series 3-2 with Game 6 scheduled for Friday night in Sunrise.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 44 saves, including a key stop on Brad Marchand on a breakaway with one second left in regulation and Carter Verhaeghe had three assists for Florida.
"Playoffs, it's the best time to play hockey", Bobrovsky said. "So, I enjoyed tonight, and guys helped a lot, so we [defended] really well against a really, really good team.
"They got good offensive guys and they played great too. We're happy with the win."
Marchand had a goal and an assist, Charlie McAvoy had two assists and Linus Ullmark stopped 21 shots for Boston. Patrice Bergeron returned from injury that kept him out of the first four games of the series, scored and won 20 of 29 faceoffs.
"It's a game of inches", said Bergeron, the Bruins captain. "You don't want to give them freebies, if you will. I think that's who we are. Our structure has always been something that gives us success, and I think learning from that and when we're kind of able to move north-south and [in] straight lines and we're able to get the puck behind and generate a little bit more."
The defeat was the first time Boston lost consecutive home games all year.
"In Boston, there has been [lulls in our game], that's for sure", Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "For whatever reason, we didn't start on time. They were the better team in the first period. ... We tend to make big mistakes now.
"I don't know why, the last two games at home, we didn't manage our ice or manage the puck. It's one of the two."
Panthers stun Bruins to force Game 6
Anthony Duclair put Florida in front 1-0 in the first period. Verhaeghe intercepted a pass from Tyler Bertuzzi in the Boston zone and centered for Duclair, who drew Ullmark out of his crease.
Marchand tied things up 2:27 into the second period with the Bruins on the power play, putting the puck past Bobrovsky's legs after following up his own shot.
Sam Bennett gave the Panthers the lead again with 1:08 remaining in the middle period, his shot from the slot beating Ullmark top glove side.
"We've shown it all year", Bennett said. "People were counting us out a long time ago. We're a team that's going to fight to the bitter end, and that's in our nature, and we showed it again tonight."
The Presidents Trophy winners were even again 4:33 into the third as Bergeron redirected Marchand's shot on the power play, but Sam Reinhart put Florida back in front 41 seconds again, scoring off a centering pass from Tkachuk.
Taylor Hall tied the game for a third time after picking up a loose puck in the high slot and shooting over Bobrovsky.
Tkachuk then won it in overtime after Ullmark turned it over behind his own net to Verhaeghe and his pass to Tkachuk in the slot deflected off the Boston goaltender.
"Super excited. Live to fight another day", Tkachuk said. "[Bobrovsky] makes a [heck] of a save [at the end of regulation], otherwise our season's over, and thenc we go out and we're able to score pretty early in overtime.
"Things happen fast in [the] playoffs, and now they've got to come down to Florida to play another one."