You could hear a pin drop in TD Garden. A historic season in which Boston was unquestionably the best team in hockey and seemed destined to lift the Stanley Cup was snuffed out in an instant when Carter Verhaeghe beat Jeremy Swayman 8:35 into overtime to clinch the series for Florida. It was a stunning and painful end for the …

Brad Marchand had the game on his stick. In the dying seconds of regulation, the Bruins’ stalwart winger broke through the Florida defense from center ice with a clean look at goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Had he scored, not only would the roof of TD Garden blast into space, but he would’ve sent Florida packing for the summer. Instead, Bobrovsky made …

Any thoughts of a quick first-round cakewalk for the Bruins quickly dissipated on Wednesday night following a 6-3 trouncing by Florida. The Panthers scored four goals in the third period to pull away from Boston and even the series at one. With Patrice Bergeron missing his second consecutive game, the Bruins looked just as choppy and disjointed as Monday night. …