Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves as the host Florida Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 to even their second-round playoff series on Sunday night in Sunrise.
The Eastern Conference best-of-seven series, tied at 2-2, will continue on Wednesday in Toronto.
“We’re going to Toronto with some confidence,” Verhaeghe said.
Florida, the reigning Stanley Cup champion, eliminated the Leafs from the second round of the 2023 playoffs, which was the last time these two teams met in the postseason. The Panthers also won this year’s season series, 3-1.
Joseph Woll made 35 saves for the Leafs, who could not get their high-powered offense untracked.
There were four penalties in the first period — all against Toronto. That led the Panthers to have a big edge on shot attempts (30-9) and shots on goal (15-4).
“They checked us hard, but in the first period we were in the box the whole period,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “You can wipe that period out. Too many penalties.”
Toronto killed those first three penalties, but Florida’s power play finally clicked on that fourth opportunity with 4:15 left, following a delay-of-game penalty on Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who cleared the puck over the glass.
Nine seconds later, it was 1-0 as Matthew Tkachuk, operating from the left wall, threaded a pass just out of the reach of Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe.
The puck connected with Verhaeghe, who scored from the doorstep, just to the right of the goal. Aleksander Barkov had the secondary assist.
“We had some poor starts earlier in this series, and that’s something we wanted to get better at, and getting the early goal definitely helped,” Verhaeghe said.
The second period was scoreless, but there were a number of great chances.
With 3:15 left, Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling chased down William Nylander, who couldn’t get off a strong enough shot due to the defensive effort.
Then, less than two minutes later on a Leafs power play, Sam Reinhart blocked a shot by Mitch Marner. That led to a rush by Reinhart, with Marner giving chase. Woll stopped Reinhart’s shot from the right circle and also Barkov’s rebound attempt from the left dot.
Finally, with 1:15 left, Max Domi was at the doorstep, but his redirection was stopped by Bobrovsky.
In the third period, Toronto’s Matthew Knies had a short-handed breakaway, but Bobrovsky made the save with 13:41 left.
“We had looks,” Berube said. “They did a good job of swarming us with numbers. We have to do a better job of getting the puck out quicker. I thought we were coming in the third period. … It’s a battle. They don’t give you a lot. If we capitalize on some of our opportunities, it’s a different game.”
Bennett made it 2-0 with 7:51 left in the third. Following a Leafs turnover, Bennett skated in on the right wing. But when both defenders took Verhaeghe, Bennett retreated a couple of steps toward the middle and patiently fired the puck past Woll.
Aaron Ekblad earned an assist on that goal.
–Field Level Media
