The Florida Panthers will have to come from behind if they’re going to advance past the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Florida looked out of sorts for much of the night, falling behind early and struggling to recover as they dropped Game 1 of the second round to the Maple Leafs by a final score of 5-4.
It was a fast start for the home team, with the Leafs tickling the twine on the game’s first shift.
William Nylander beat Sergei Bobrovsky from a sharp angle after bringing the puck down the right boards, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead just 33 seconds into the game.
Nylander struck again with just over seven minutes left in the period, jumping on an Oliver Ekman-Larsson rebound and beating Bobrovsky over the glove.
Seth Jones broke the ice for the Panthers late in the first period with Florida on the power play, firing a wrist shot over Anthony Stolarz blocker through a nice screen from Sam Reinhart.
Unfortunately for Florida, they’d allow Toronto a high-end chance immediately afterwards, and Morgan Reilly beat Bobrovsky by the blocker while on an odd-man rush to reclaim the two-goal lead just 19 seconds after Jones’ goal.
After just eight shots on Bobrovsky, the Leafs had three goals.
Toronto expanded their lead again on another goal from one of their blueliners.
This time it was Chris Tanev sending a wrist shot that bounced before beating Bobrovsky to give the Maple Leafs a 4-1 lead.
Not long after, goaltender Joseph Woll came into the game and replaced Stolarz, who had taken a hit to the head from Sam Bennett earlier in the period.
Florida came out looking much more aggressive during the third period, and they were rewarded with a couple of quick goals.
First it was Eetu Luostarinen deflecting an Anton Lundell shot past Woll just 99 seconds into the final frame, then with the Lundell line back on the ice less than three minutes later, Uvis Balinskis walked the puck down from the point and wired a shot over Woll’s glove.
Just like that, the Panthers were right back in the game with plenty of time to go.
A bad line change cost the Cats dearly as Matthew Knies went in all alone on Bobrovsky and beat him with a backhand over the glove to restore the Leafs’ two-goal lead.
With Bobrovsky on the bench, Sam Bennett scored from the bottom of the left circle, shooting a wrist shot that went off defenseman Brandon Carlo’s stick and over Woll’s right shoulder to cut the lead back to one with 1:55 to go.
That would be as close as it would get.
Florida certainly has a lot they’ll wait to clean up before Wednesday night.
On to Game 2.
QUICK THOUGHTS
Jones has goals in two of his past three games.
Brad Marchand has recorded two assists in back-to-back games and is now averaging a point per game during the playoffs.
Matthew Tkachuk picked up an assist, his sixth point in six postseason games.
Carter Verhaeghe has points in three straight games after picking up an assist on Jones’ PPG.
Also with a three-game point streak is Lundell, who has six points during the run.
Just like his buddy Lundy, Luostarinen has points in three straight games, and six points during his streak, as well.
Florida’s penalty kill, fresh off an impressive series against Tampa Bay, went a perfect 5-for-5 in Game 1.
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