Mitch Marner scored the game-winning goal in the third period, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Florida Panthers by a score of 4-3 on Wednesday night. With this victory, the Maple Leafs take a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series.
Max Pacioretty and Max Domi each contributed a goal and an assist. William Nylander also scored, and Morgan Rielly added two assists for the Maple Leafs. Joseph Woll, replacing the injured Anthony Stolarz, made 25 saves.
On the Panthers’ side, the defending Stanley Cup champion, Anton Lundell scored a goal and provided an assist. Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky finished the game with 16 saves.
The matchup between these two Atlantic Division teams now shifts to South Florida, with Game 3 scheduled for Friday.
Woll started after Stolarz left midway through the first game of the series on Monday, after taking a hit to the head from Panthers center Sam Bennett.
After falling behind 3-2 after two periods, Florida tied the game at 5:33 of the third when Lundell scored his third goal of the playoffs.
Toronto regained the lead just 17 seconds later, as Marner fired a shot that found its way through traffic, beating a surprised Bobrovsky.
Woll made a crucial save on Mackie Samoskevich with 9:59 remaining in regulation, and Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe cleared a loose puck from the scoring area with less than six minutes to go. The Panthers continued to press, and Sam Reinhart hit the post with just over three minutes to play before the Maple Leafs held on in the final moments.
Florida, which defeated Toronto in five games two years ago at the same stage of the playoffs, went ahead 2-1 just 15 seconds after the start of the second period when Marchand took a pass from Lundell and scored his first playoff goal.
Toronto tied it at 4:18 when Pacioretty beat Panthers defenseman Seth Jones before finding Nylander in front of the net, who scored his sixth goal and the player’s seventh point in three games.
The Maple Leafs took a 3-2 lead with 2:51 remaining in the second period when Domi received a pass from Steven Lorentz and scored his second goal.
Toronto couldn’t capitalize on two power plays in the first 10 minutes of the game, before Florida scored 5 seconds into their first power play, as Barkov scored his second goal at 10:58.
The Maple Leafs got their third power-play of the period when Dmitry Kulikov was penalized for delay of game. Toronto again didn’t accomplish much until the second unit came out on the ice and Rielly fired a shot that Pacioretty deflected in to score his second goal, with 1:41 remaining before the first intermission.
The Panthers had defenseman Aaron Ekblad return after a two-game suspension for a hit to the chin of Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel in the first round.
