The Florida Panthers found another gear to their game Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena, while the Toronto Maple Leafs were stuck in neutral, or more like in reverse. The result was a thoroughly convincing 6-1 road win for the Panthers in Game 5 of this best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round Series.
The defending Stanley Cup champions played to form, winning their third straight contest after dropping the first two in Toronto to begin the series. That the Panthers are resembling the team that’s reached the Stanley Cup Final two years in a row is bad news for the Maple Leafs. But so, too, is Toronto’s own history. They haven’t gotten out of the second round since 2002, and appear to be wilting at the worst possible time again.
Simply, the Panthers ran the Maple Leafs out of their own building Wednesday. Florida outshot Toronto 13-6 in the first period, part a massive 33-10 discrepancy in shot attempts. Yet, the Panthers only had a 1-0 lead on Aaron Ekblad’s goal at 14:38.
So, the Maple Leafs were technically still in this game. They had some good scoring chances in the first period, like William Nylander’s breakaway at 8:32, even though the Panthers owned the puck with relentless sustained pressure.
But the Panthers further imposed their will in the second period and blew the doors off this one. The unlikely threesome of Dmitry Kulikov, Jesper Boqvist and Niko Mikkola found the back of the net and Florida had itself a comfortable 4-0 lead as boos rained down on the home team exiting the ice into the second intermission.
There was plenty more booing — and even some tossing of Maple Leafs jerseys on to the ice — from the disgruntled Toronto fan base in the third period. Another unlikely goal scorer, fourth-liner A.J. Greer, potted one at 6:23 to drive Joseph Woll from the Toronto net after he allowed five goals on 25 shots. Sam Bennett scored his team-high sixth of the playoffs at 9:10 against Matt Murray — remember him?! — to make it 6-0.
The Maple Leafs avoided a second straight shutout defeat (they lost Game 4 in South Florida 2-0) when Nick Robertson whipped a backhand shot into the net with 1:06 remaining. Several scrums later this one was officially over, though really the game was decided long before. Perhaps the series, too, unless the Maple Leafs, trailing 3-2 and facing elimination, can find a whole other level to their game Friday night at Amerant Bank Arena.
Related: NHL Games Today: 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs Schedule, Dates, Times, and Results
3 takeaways after Florida Panthers defeat Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 in Game 5
1. M&M MIA
If this was Mitchell Marner’s final home game as a member of the Maple Leafs, it was not one to remember for the pending unrestricted free agent. He continued his miserable series against the Panthers with a ghost-like performance. When you did notice him, it was for all the wrong reasons, like his brutal giveaway near the blue line that led to Boqvist’s goal midway through the second that made it 3-0.
Marner had one shot on goal, his first in three games, was pointless and minus-2. Toronto was out-chanced 12-5 with him on the ice 5v5 and had a 44.77 percent goal share, per Natural Stat Trick.
His linemate, and longtime Core-4 teammate, Auston Matthews was more noticeable but equally as ineffective. Matthews tied Nylander for the team lead with six shots on goal, but remains without a goal in this series.
2. Florida’s depth is overwhelming
The Panthers routed the Maple Leafs on Wednesday with just one point (an assist) and two shots on goal combined from big guns Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe. They did so because six different players scored a goal and 14 of 18 skaters overall found the score sheet. That’s not just depth, that’s quality depth. That’s championship depth.
Not bad for a team which lost half its bottom six, two key defensemen and then some last offseason after winning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Kulikov, Boqvist, Mikkola and Greer each scored his first goal of the playoffs. Ekblad scored his second. Three of those goal scorers are defensemen. Another defenseman, Nate Schmidt, had two assists. Boqvist moved up to play alongside Barkov and Sam Reinhart in the place of the injured Evan Rodrigues and scored his first-ever postseason goal. Greer also potted his first career playoff goal.
In these playoffs, 17 different skaters have scored at least one goal for the Panthers. That’s in 10 games. That’s championship depth. And it’s something that the Maple Leafs have not come close to matching in this series.
3. Don’t forget Bob
Sergei Bobrovsky didn’t start this series so great, allowing 13 goals in the first three games with a sub-.900 save percentage in each — though he did come up big in Florida’s season-saving 5-4 OT win in Game 3. Since then, Bob has been, well, Bob.
The Stanley Cup champion has played to form, allowing one goal on 55 shots the past two games. He followed up a 23-save shutout in Game 4 with 31 saves Wednesday, including that clutch breakaway stop on Nylander when the game was scoreless in the first period. Toronto didn’t have a lot of shots in the first period, but Bobrovsky made several game-changing saves, including a lightning-quick pad save against Matthew Knies on a Toronto power play with under a minute to play.
Robertson’s goal ended Bob’s scoreless streak at 143 minutes 25 seconds..
On the other side of the ice, Woll — excellent in the Game 4 defeat — was subpar in Game 5, and not good at all on a clear look on Mikkola’s shot that somehow sailed by his glove to make it 4-0. Anthony Stolarz is getting healthy and back on the ice after sustaining a head injury in the series opener. He’ll start Friday if at all possible for the Maple Leafs.
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