TORONTO (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves and the Florida Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Thursday evening to take a 2- lead in their 2nd-round playoff collection.
Anton Lundell experienced a objective and an help, and Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida.
Ryan O’Reilly and Alexander Kerfoot scored for Toronto, which blew an early 2- lead. Ilya Samsonov stopped 26 shots.
The greatest-of-7 sequence shifts to Sunrise, Florida, for Match 3 on Sunday. Recreation 4 is scheduled for Wednesday.
Toronto led 2-1 pursuing a spirited, chippy 1st period. Difficulty observed the Maple Leafs in the next.
Barkov tied the recreation 19 seconds into the period of time on a extensive shot for his 2nd purpose of the postseason. Much less than a moment later, there was some sloppy perform by Toronto in the defensive zone when Mitch Marner flipped an sick-suggested pass to Auston Matthews, who could not get it out of the zone.
Florida swiftly countered as Forsling finished off a setup by Matthew Tkachuk — his fourth of the series — for his 2nd and a 3-2 direct.
The Maple Leafs took a while to get well in advance of Nylander strike the write-up with a shot that also strike Bobrovsky in the back and stayed out. Florida defenseman Brandon Montour then hit the post at the other finish.
Toronto captain John Tavares had a excellent opportunity in entrance before Josh Mahura took a Nylander shot off the visor that still left a path of blood on the ice as he exited for the locker space. The Panthers defenseman returned for the 3rd time period.
Toronto came out for the third with lots of urgency, but could not resolve Bobrovsky, who has started off to rediscover his Vezina Trophy-successful kind in these playoffs just after getting rid of the setting up task late in the frequent period to 3rd-stringer Alex Lyon.
Tavares was stopped in by yourself and Nylander strike a different submit. The Maple Leafs winger was also denied in tight with 5 minutes left in regulation.
Toronto continued to press with Samsonov on the bench for an more attacker, but couldn’t defeat Bobrovsky.
Toronto dropped the collection opener 4-2 at Scotiabank Arena, but acquired off to a fast start off Thursday when Kerfoot scored on the rebound of a Luke Schenn issue shot for his second at 2:20 of the to start with.
Unable to hook up on two early electrical power plays in Sport 1, the Maple Leafs built it 2- on a person advantage at 5:10 when Marner located O’Reilly, who scored his 3rd on a one particular-timer.
The Panthers, who beat the report-setting Boston Bruins in seven video games to make the next spherical, begun to thrust back as the period of time wore on, together with Sam Bennett putting Matthew Knies in a headlock and slamming him to the ice.
The Toronto rookie completed the period, but didn’t return for the next time period because of to an undisclosed harm.
Florida responded at 11:13 when Lundell scored his 1st just after linemate Eetu Luostarinen crushed Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren guiding Samsonov’s net and Tavares fell.
MATTHEWS ON THE MARK
Matthews assisted on O’Reilly’s first-interval objective, providing him factors in 8 straight game titles and matching a franchise file formerly shared by Gary Roberts (2002), Doug Gilmour (1993) and Gary Leeman (1986).
GET KRAKEN
Toronto defenseman Mark Giordano — the first captain in Seattle Kraken record — has been trying to keep tabs on his outdated team’s operate in the playoffs.
The second-12 months franchise completed 30th in past year’s standings, but secured the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot this spring in advance of upsetting the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in 7 online games in the first round.
“The basis was laid in spot final calendar year,” said Giordano, obtained by Toronto prior to the 2022 trade deadline. “They also produced some massive additions and actually helped their crew.”
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