Marchand Scores Overtime Winner, Panthers Get Back into Series Against Maple Leafs

SUNRISE, Fla. — One bounce the other way could have seen the Panthers one foot in the door of an early summer.

Searching for a playoff hero after Game 3 went to overtime on Friday night at Amerant Bank Arena, Brad Marchand answered the call, scoring the game winner to get the Panthers back into the series against the Maple Leafs.

Marchand’s shot found its way past Joseph Woll after taking a deflection off of Morgan Rielly, leading Florida to a 5-4 OT win and cutting Toronto’s series lead to 2-1.

“It feels good but it’s all about doing it again the next game,” Marchand said after the game. “[Toronto’s] going to come out hard. You saw the way they prepared for the game tonight — they have their killer instinct right now so we have to do a better job at preparing to start the game and then carry it through.”

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 of the 31 shots he faced, including eight in overtime — two of those being breakaways.

The Leafs came out of the gates as they did in Game 1. Before some fans made it from the parking lot to their seats, Toronto was up 2-0.

Matthe Knies scored 23 seconds into the game — 10 fewer than his teammate William Nylander took in the series opener — and John Tavares doubled the Leaf’s lead before the six-minute mark of the first.

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov cut the deficit to one 7:38 into the first with his third goal of the postseason.

John Tavares reclaimed a two-goal lead for Toronto 2:52 into the second period after deflecting a Mitch Marner on the power play for his second goal of the night

Once again down two, the Panthers flipped the script, scoring twice in 64 seconds to tie the game.

Sam Reinhart was credited with Florida’s second goal of the night after a broken play in front of Toronto’s net saw a puck sneak under Joseph Woll’s glove at the 5:13 mark of the period.

Carter Verhaeghe tied the game at 3-3 moments later after Sam Bennett fed a cross-crease pass to Verhaeghe, who had an open goal to shoot at.

Making his playoff debut on Friday,  Jonah Gadjovich gave Florida its first lead of the game after a Tomas Nosek shot grazed off him and into the Leaf’s net with 4:53 left in the second.

Gadjovich, who was on the Cup winning team in 2024 but didn’t appear in a playoff game, found out he would be playing in Game 3 on Thursday.

“I was super excited, obviously [my] first playoff game,” Gadjovich said. “I didn’t want to be anything that I’m not. Just wanted to come in, play hard, play physical, do what I do and get the win.”

Morgan Rielly tied the game with 9:04 to go in regulation thanks to Morgan Rielly, whose initial shot from the point was saved by Sergei Bobrovsky before banking in off of Panthers defenseman Seth Jones.

The same way Rielly’s his game-tying shot  hit a body in the third, he’d be the unfortunate victim in OT after Marchand’s shot hit him before going into the goal.

Now down 2-1, the Panthers will have a chance to tie the series at home on Sunday in Game 4 before they eventually fly back to Toronto for Game 5 on Wednesday.

“It just means you have a better day tomorrow,” Maurice responded when asked if the momentum will change after the Panthers won Game 3. “But the context changes up until the puck dropping [Sunday]… You get up 0-3 to any of these eight teams [left in the playoffs] you’re going to have a hard time getting out of that.”