For the second time in as many games in their best-of-7 second-round playoff series, the Toronto Maple Leafs stood toe-to-toe with the defending Stanley Cup champions, and were just a little bit better than the Florida Panthers. As such, the Maple Leafs hold a 2-0 lead in the series after an exciting 4-3 win at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night.
Mitch Marner’s go-ahead goal at 5:50 of the third period, just 17 seconds after the Panthers tied the game on Anton Lundell’s third of the playoffs, proved to be the game-winner for the resilient Maple Leafs. However, the victory was not secured until the final buzzer with the Panthers owning the puck late in the period pushing for the equalizer.
Joseph Woll was up to the task, with 11 saves in the third period and 26 overall. He made his first start in these playoffs for the Maple Leafs, taking over for Anthony Stolarz who sustained an unspecified injury after being elbowed in the head by Sam Bennett in Game 1 of the series, a 5-4 Toronto victory.
The Panthers scored first Wednesday, had a pair of one-goal leads and a whopping expected goals share of 74.54 percent, including 79.45 percent in the third period, per Natural Stat Trick. But Toronto took Florida’s best shots and picked its chances to counter-attack and took advantage of what opportunities it got.
Aleksander Barkov beat Woll glove side for a power-play goal at 10:58 of the first period to make it 1-0 Florida. Max Pacioretty answered back with a power-play goal of his own on a deflection at 18:19.
Brad Marchand restored Florida’s lead just 15 seconds into the second period after a neat passing sequence down low with Lundell. The Maple Leafs tied it at 4:18 on William Nylander’s sixth of the postseason and third of the series. They took their first lead at 17:09 when Max Domi buried a left-wing snipe off a Steven Lorentz feed.
The Maple Leafs held serve on home ice, but it felt like a bit more than that. They seemed to put a serious dent in the Panthers’ playoff invincibility. Let’s see if that continues down in South Florida for Games 3 and 4 this weekend.
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3 takeaways after Toronto Maple Leafs take 2-0 series lead with 4-3 win against Florida Panthers
1. Not your same old Maple Leafs
It’s been an annual rite of spring the past eight years. The Maple Leafs storm into the Stanley Cup Playoffs after an excellent regular season, only to be eliminated in quick — and typically painful — fashion. But this spring, year nine since Auston Matthews arrived in Toronto for the 2016-17 season, the Maple Leafs finally have the look of a team that can make a playoff run.
It starts with Stanley Cup-winning coach Craig Berube and his quiet intensity and confident been-there-done-that vibe. It continues with a complete buy-in that north-south is the correct path, not east-west. Add in three recent Cup winners taken from the Panthers championship roster — Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Stolarz and Lorentz.
But the biggest thing is that the Maple Leafs, for once, not only aren’t backing down, they’re initiating and winning numerous puck battles and one-on-ones. When you play the Panthers, you better be prepared for big-boy hockey. And now the Maple Leafs are equipped to more than keep up, with the likes of Pacioretty, Chris Tanev, Simon Benoit, Scott Laughton and Lorentz added to the lineup. Toronto is now in the middle of the fight every night, every shift. It’s a massive change from playoffs past.
Yes, the Panthers owned the puck for large swaths of Game 2. It’s what they do. But the Maple Leafs didn’t fold, from Woll on out. Toronto was credited with 41 hits, two more than Florida, and the rejuvenated Pacioretty — called a “menace” by his teammates — led the way with seven. The Maple Leafs blocked 26 shots, five each by Tanev and Domi.
Toss in some bursts of skill and that’s called winning hockey.
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2. Panthers getting beaten off the rush
We saw it in Game 1 and again in Game 2, the Panthers are having all kinds of trouble stopping the Maple Leafs’ counter-attack. And Toronto’s speed and tenacity are flummoxing Florida into key turnovers, leading directly to scoring chances and goals.
The goals by Nylander and Domi were each scored off the rush. There were several other rush chances that Sergei Bobrovsky denied. Florida’s defense has looked slow against Toronto’s counters, an area that the Panthers weren’t exposed in their playoff runs in 2023 and 2024.
3. Paging Matthew Tkachuk
The Panthers best player hasn’t been their best player in the first two games of this series. Matthew Tkachuk did register eight shot attempts Wednesday and had three shots on goal. But there weren’t any memorable scoring chances nor was there enough snarl to his game.
Yes, he cycled the puck well, helped the Panthers generate plenty of zone time. But really, think about it, how many times did you really notice Tkachuk? Exactly.
It’s great that the Panthers third line turned in a massive performance, led by Lundell and Marchand, with Eetu Luostarinen doing his part, too. But the Panthers need some serious production from their best player, who was held off the score-sheet, was a minus-2, and has one point (assist) on Florida’s seven goals in the series.
