Florida Panthers defeat Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime, advance to Eastern Conference Finals

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TORONTO —The Florida Panthers returned to Scotiabank Arena on Friday night with another chance to book their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals. 

 

On the other side of the ice, the home team Toronto Maple Leafs had to fight another night to keep their season alive as they trailed in the series 3-1.

 

The story of this series was tight, back and forth games – this was prevalent again tonight. 

 

After a tied 60 minutes, the Panthers took the game and the series in overtime with Nick Cousins’ game winning goal. The Cats won 3-2, taking the series in five games, punching their way to the conference finals. 

 

The beginning of the game swung in Florida’s favor, with the Cats getting the first two goals of the night. 

 

At the 1:37 mark of the first Eetu Luostarinen took a high stick from Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe, sending the Panthers to an early power play.

 

As the power play time ticked down, Florida’s second unit got the team on the board. Gustav Forsling hit Aaron Ekblad on the left faceoff circle for a quick one-time shot that snuck past Leafs’ goalie Joseph Woll. 

 

After taking the early 1-0 lead, Florida grabbed one more goal before the intermission. 

 

Toronto defenseman Timothy Liljegren wasn’t able to corral a bouncing puck that was long flipped into the neutral zone by Aaron Ekblad. Carter Verhaeghe got a stick on the play while Anthony Duclair picked up the puck as the Cat’s pushed into the Leaf’s zone.

 

Duclair fed Verhaeghe for a one-timer and he buried it, putting the Cats up 2-0.

 

Trailing by two goals with their season on the line, Morgan Rielly showed up as he has all postseason for the Leafs. 

 

After winning the puck down low, Sam Lafferty hit Rielly at the point and the Leaf’s blueliner wired it through traffic to score his fourth goal of the playoffs. 

 

Later in the period, it appeared Rielly scored again for the Leafs to tie the game, however that ended up not being the case. 

 

Rielly drove the net and got the puck towards goal and under Sergei Bobrovsky’s pad. Toronto thought they scored, however the officials didn’t award a goal on the ice. After a lengthy replay, they confirmed that the call on the ice would stand, no goal. 

Toronto didn’t get the equalizer they needed here, but as the old saying goes, a two goal lead is the worst lead in hockey.

 

Toronto kept piling on the pressure in the third, out shooting the Panthers 14-7. Their season wouldn’t end there, at least not in regulation. 

 

With under five minutes left in the third, William Nylander broke through the neutral zone on his horse. He blew past both Marc Staal and Brandon Montour before he caught Bobrovsky up high.

The Leafs tied the game, keeping their season alive and bringing the crowd to life.

 

This game would need overtime. 

 

Toronto’s desperation and desire to continue playing hockey showed tonight. 

 

By the time the final whistle blew, the Leafs put 52 shots on Sergei Bobrovsky. 

 

The Leafs had their fair share of chances to take this series back to Florida in the OT frame. The one thing, or should I say man standing in their way was the goaltender of the Panthers. 

 

Despite the last ditch effort to keep their season alive, Toronto’s year would end off the stick of Nick Cousins. 


Just under five minutes to go in overtime, Nick Cousins came through the Leafs’ zone, pulled a curl and drag shot and beat Joseph Woll to end the series in five. Radko Gudas picked up multiple helpers on the goal, as he started the rush from the Panthers’ zone, set a pick on the Leafs’ defense and screened the goalie on route to the Cousins’ goal.

 

“So much credit to him, he broke the play up in our own end and got it up to me,” Cousins said about Radko Gudas’ on the OT winner. “I was just fortunate enough to make a curl drag there and lucky enough it went in, I mean all the credit to him.”

 

This win puts Florida in the Eastern Conference Finals, a place they haven’t been to since 1996. Their next opponent will be the Carolina Hurricanes, who also just closed off their second-round series in five games.

 

“Honestly I don’t want to talk about Carolina yet, we just want to enjoy this one tonight,” said Matthew Tkachuk after Game 5.

Panthers defeat Leafs in OT, take 3-0 series lead

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The Comeback Cats do it again, winning Game 3, 3-2 in overtime to take a 3-0 series lead

 

The Florida Panthers were back at home Sunday night for Game 3 of their second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

Holding a 2-0 series lead after taking both road games in Toronto, the Panthers played another tightly contested game tonight against the Maple Leafs. 

 

Toronto jumped out to an early lead tonight for a second straight game. Sam Lafferty got the Leafs on the board 2:26 into the first period off a 2-on-1 pass from David Kampf. 

 

After giving up the first goal, the Panthers were able to stick to their game, limiting the Leafs to limited scoring chances for the remainder of the frame. 

 

The Leafs held off the Panthers attack to take a 1-0 lead into the intermission. 

 

In Game 2 Florida jumped out of the gates in then second period, scoring multiple goals in the first few minutes to take a lead. Tonight it was a similar story. 

 

Florida didn’t completely flip the script tonight like they did on Thursday, however they were able to even up the game early in the second. 

 

As the Panthers power play was dwindling down, Aaron Ekblad threaded a stretch pass from his own blue line to a streaking Anthony Duclair. At the 2:36 mark, Duclair beat Joseph Woll on a breakaway deke to tie the game at 1-1. Woll had just entered the game in relief for an injured Ilya Samsonov a few minutes before. 

 

Five minutes after Duclair tied the game, the Leafs took their lead back. 

 

A bad defensive breakdown by the Panthers allowed Erik Gustafsson all the time in the world to walk in on Sergei Bobrovksy. 

 

Gustafsson attempted to play a pass to David Kampf across the crease, however Panthers defenseman Marc Staal deflected the puck into his own goal. The Leafs regained the lead. 

 

The feisty Panthers didn’t go away after conceding, as they’ve shown multiple times this playoffs. 

 

12:28 in the second, Radko Gudas attempted to get a puck from the point on goal, instead it banked off of Carter Verhaeghe’s butt into the net, evening the game up at 2-2. 

 

The remainder of the second and the entirety of the third period didn’t have too much more drama. 

 

Both teams had a few chances to take the leading, including a between-the-legs breakaway attempt from Sam Bennett in the dying minutes of the game. 

 

Both goalies dealt with their business for the remainder of regulation. Overtime would be the answer in Sunrise. 

 

Both teams had undefeated OT records in round one. Toronto was 3-0, with all their OT victories coming on the road. Florida was 2-0 in Boston. 

 

In the overtime frame, the hometown cats leapt to victory. 

 

The Lundell, Reinhart, Luostarinen line has been great in these playoffs and they were the answer tonight. 

 

Sam Reinhart started the zone entry by himself. After maneuvering through a few Leafs players, he wrapped the puck around the boards to Anton Lundell. 

 

Lundell quickly fed him back behind the net. Reinhart wasted no time, scoring off a wrap around to seal the game for the Panthers and give them a 3-0 lead. 

 

Toronto’s season will be on the line on Wednesday night as Florida will try to complete the sweep and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals. 

Panthers take 2-0 series lead after Game 2 win against Leafs

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TORONTO — Game 2 of the Panthers-Maple Leafs series was another gutsy performance by the Panthers. After trailing early in the game, the Panthers fought back, scoring three unanswered goals in a 3-2 win on the road.

 

After losing Game 1 at home, Toronto got the perfect start to their Thursday night. 2:20 into the game, Alex Kerfoot cleaned up a rebound before the Panthers and Sergei Bobrovksy could get to it, giving the Leafs an early lead.

 

Moments later, the Leafs went to their first power play of the night. Just 30 seconds into the man-advantage, Mitch Marner hit a wide open Ryan O’Reilly, who buried the one-timer to put the Leafs up 2-0 five minutes into the game.

 

Toronto’s constant pressure had Florida pinned in their own zone for the majority of the opening 10 minutes of the game.

 

It looked like Toronto was about to run away with the game quickly – and to make matters worse for the Panthers, the Leafs went to their second power play less than 90 seconds after O’Reilly made it  2-0.

The Panthers were able to get through the early flurry of Maple Leafs pressure down just two goals… yes, it was that threatening they were lucky to just be down two.

 

At the 11:13 mark of the first, Florida got some life back off a great shift from their third line. A hard forecheck from Eetu Luostarinen allowed Sam Reinhart to get free behind the net. With all the attention drawn towards Reinhart, he laid a slick pass to Anton Lundell in front of the net. Lundell scored his first goal of the playoffs to cut the deficit to one.

 

“We’ve been able to find a game that works right now and we just need to keep going,” said Lundell.

 

Florida got some jump in their step after Lundell’s goal. Aaron Ekblad was inches away from tying the game later in the period, but Toronto’s Ilya Samsonov came up with a few big saves, including a glove save on Ekblad.

After 20, the Leafs led 2-1.

 

While the start of the first was all Leafs, the Panthers completely flipped the script to start the second.

 

19 seconds into the period, Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov fired the puck off the rush past Samsonov, tying the game at 2-2.

 

Less than a minute after Barkov tied the game, Luostarinen forced a turnover at the Leafs’ blueline. He hit Tkachuk, who walked into the zone at the end of his shift and lasered a cross ice pass to Gustav Forsling. Forsling gave the Panthers the 3-2 lead.

 

The remainder of the second period was a more even playing field. Both teams had their fair share of chances, crossbars and missed opportunities.

 

The Panthers went into the break with a 3-2 lead.

 

In the third, Toronto came out of the gates hard. The opening 12 minutes of the period was spent mostly in Florida’s zone.

 

When the Panthers could clear the zone, Toronto quickly transitioned back up the ice through the neutral zone.

 

The Panthers had given up multiple two-on-one chances; the Leafs were piling on the chances.

 

It was a barrage of firepower coming from the Leafs. Quality chances left and right but to no avail.

Sergei Bobrovsky has owned the net for the Panthers since Game 5 against Boston. After the two early goals by Toronto, Bobrovsky stood on his head again – stopping everything he saw.

 

“Bob, he grinds and just continues to work on his game and takes care of himself,” said Matthew Tkachuk. “He deserves it, he’s been the leader for us since he’s come back, we’re very lucky to have him.

 

Florida has won five straight games including three on the road.

 

The Panthers now head back home with a 2-0 series lead. They haven’t played in front of their home fans since their 7-5 Game 6 win against Boston.

Five Takeaways from Panthers’ Game 1 win over Maple Leafs

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TORONTO — Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs officially got underway Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena. The Toronto Maple Leafs played host to the Florida Panthers as the two began their first ever  playoff series against one another. 

 

The Panthers walked out of Game 1 tonight with a 4-2 win and a 1-0 series thanks in large part to the hometown Ontario raised Panthers. 


Here’s tonight’s takeaways.

 

Tkachuk, Bennett, Cousins line is on fire

The Panthers are a few games into this new line combination, with Nick Cousins playing alongside the dynamic duo of Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett. 

 

Florida’s second line was the best trio on the ice in the first period. Tkachuk and Bennett are both players who dominate when working the puck down low in the offensive zone. Nick Cousins doesn’t over complicate his game, which makes him a good support player with those two.

 

Nick Cousins scored the first goal of the series tonight just that way. The line went to work down below the net – winning another  puck battle while being outnumbered, eerily similar to the Game 7 OT winning goal in Boston. 

 

Cousins freed himself from his defender in front of Ilya Samsonov’s net, leading to a fairly easy backhand shot for his first goal of the playoffs. 

 

On Florida’s second goal of the game it was much of the same. While Nick Cousins wasn’t on the bench, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett had a sort of double screen in front of Toronto’s net. Aaron Ekblad’s point shot was tipped in by Bennett, giving Florida a  2-0 lead. 

 

Florida gives up another two-goal lead… but survives again

Florida had a 2-0 lead eight minutes into the second period on the road. The Toronto crowd was stun and out of it… for 11 seconds.

 

Immediately following Florida’s second goal,  the Leafs won the faceoff, quickly entered the zone and fed 20-year-old rookie Matthew Knies in the slot. 


Knies calmly waited out Sergei Bobrovsky to tuck away his first career NHL playoff goal, which was also his first ever goal in the NHL.

 

Later in the period, a defensive zone collapse by Florida led to Micheal Bunting having a wide open look at Sergei Bobrovsky. The Scarborough, ON. native tied game with his first playoff goal of the season.

 

Last game in Boston, Florida also had a two goal lead and the Bruins were able to not only tie it at two, but take the lead. 

 

Florida wasn’t going to let that happen again – Toronto didn’t hold the lead once tonight.

 

Sergei Bobrovsky stands tall in fourth-straight win

The Panthers’ goaltender won three elimination games in a row against Boston to get Florida into the second-round.

 

Bobrovsky got the nod again tonight as Florida’s playoff journey shifted to Toronto. 

 

Early into Game 1 Toronto had the Panthers on their heels. The Leafs two early power plays produced a plethora of chances around Bobrovsky, but he was able to close the door on most shots, while the Leafs had a few bounce wide.

 

Toronto peppered Bob in the third, putting 14 shots on goal. In the dying minutes of regulation, the Leafs had sustained pressure in the Florida zone – a goal looked to be coming. 

 

Unfortunately for Toronto, Bob looked a lot more like the goalie who was winning Vezina trophies in Columbus down the stretch. 

 

Bobrovsky finished the night with 34 saves on 36 shots, including all 14 in the third. 

 

Ontario Panther Party

There’s a lot of players on the Florida Panthers with Southern Ontario roots. 

 

Playing against what was many of their childhood team tonight in the playoffs didn’t slow down the Ontario born Cats tonight. 

 

Florida scored four goals – all of which came from players born within a few hours of Toronto.

 

Nick Cousins (Belleville, ON.), Sam Bennett (Holland Landing, ON.) Carter Verhaeghe (Hamilton, ON.) and Brandon Montour (Brantford, ON.) all scored in Game 1. 

 

“We just got a lot of Ontario boys,”  Brandon Monotur said postgame. “We enjoy playing these games, playing in Toronto.”

 

Panthers get the early series lead and another road win

The Panthers haven’t won the first game of a playoff series since 1997.

 

Florida also didn’t lead the Bruins series until they won the whole thing in Game 7 overtime. 

 

Tonight they not only broke that Game 1 winless drought, but they also grabbed that win on the road. 

 

The Panthers have been better on the road in their eight playoff games than they have at home. In their five road games, they won four of them – while their three home games only garnered a single win, which came in Game 6 last round. 

 

For the first time in a very, very long time, Florida doesn’t have to fight back early on in a playoff series, they are in the drivers’ seat.

Carter Verhaeghe sends Florida Panthers to second round

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It seemed improbable, maybe impossible. Down 3-1 against the greatest regular season team in NHL history, the Florida Panthers were written off by the hockey world. 

 

The only group that believed in the Panthers were themselves.

 

The Panthers shocked the hockey world tonight, defeating the Presidents’ Trophy winning Boston Bruins in Game 7 overtime, 4-3 to advance to the second round.

 

After clawing back in the series to force Game 7 in Boston, the Panthers once again found themselves in a hole tonight, trailing 3-2 with exactly a minute left in regulation.

 

Brandon Montour kept his team’s season alive, rifling a shot past Jeremy Swayman to tie the  game at 3-3.

 

With the late equalizer, this series went to overtime for the second time – both being elimination scenarios for the Panthers in Boston.

 

Winner takes all overtime in Game 7. Next bounce wins. Losers go home, winners move on. 

 

The extra frame saw both teams get their fair share of chances to win the series, but the two goaltenders kept their nets shut. 

 

Boston had a few early chances on Sergei Bobrovsky, while Florida had two great looks in front of Swayman from Matther Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe. 

 

The final shift of the game came from Florida’s three best players in the series.

 

A great forecheck from Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk prevented the Bruins from breaking out of their own zone. After an aggressive puck battle behind Boston’s net, Bennett fed Verhaeghe at the faceoff circle and the Panthers forward scored his second series clinching ot goal for the Panthers in consecutive years. 

 

The Panthers just snuck into the postseason, clinching their playoff berth before the final game of the regular season. The odds were against them as they took on a Bruins team that set the NHL record for both wins and points.

 

Florida will head to Toronto for the second-round to take on a Maple Leafs team that just got over a 19-year playoff series winless streak.

Panthers defeat Bruins 7-5, force Game 7 in Boston

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SUNRISE — Facing elimination for a second straight game, The Florida Panthers kept their season alive once again on Friday night, defeating the Boston Bruins 7-5 in Game 6 at FLA Live Arena. 

 

Coming off a huge 4-3 overtime win in Boston on Wednesday, the Panthers returned home, where they were yet to win a playoff game this year.

 

The Panthers struck first and early in tonight’s contest, which has been important all series as the team to score first won all the previous five games. Brandon Montour’s 4-on-3 powerplay goal beat Linus Ullmark just 2:01 into the game. 

 

Florida wasn’t able to hold onto the lead for long, which was also the case in Game 5. Every Time the Panthers scored tonight, the Bruins answered.

 

In this twelve goal game, neither team held more than a one goal lead until the last 28 seconds of the game. 

 

The Bruins once again were dangerous on their power play, scoring on three of their four attempts. 


Entering the third period, the Panthers had a 3-2 lead due to their captain Aleksander’s Barkov’s first goal of the series. 

 

With the Panthers leading and 20 minutes to go, one of the hottest Bruins on the ice Tyler Bertuzzi quickly scored his second goal of the night  1:31 into the third, tying the game at three. 

 

Minutes later the Bruins took their first lead of the game off of David Pastrnak’s second goal of the game – Boston’s third on the power play.

 

Trailing for the first time in Game 6, the Panthers didn’t waver. They were pulled back into it by Zac Dalpe, who spent a large portion of the season in AHL Charlotte as their captain.

 

“That’s just a great story, Zac Dalpe,” said Panthers head coach Paul Maurice. “That’s the right guy to come up and pull us out of the fire.”

 

After Dalpe’s tying goal, the Bruins kept pushing. Now 4-4 and the Panthers on the power play, the momentum was swinging Florida’s way.

 

Boston’s first lead came on the power play. They grabbed the lead again, but this time they were short handed. Jake DeBrusk jumped into the play and Pavel Zacha slipped a pass between two Panthers players – DeBrusk gave Boston the 5-4 lead.

 

Needing to get the tie back, Florida still had some power play time after giving up the short handed goal. The one to get them back even was none other than their star Matthew Tkachuk. 

 

27 seconds after DeBrusk’s go-ahead goal, Tkachuk relentlessly whacked at the puck in front of goal until it made its way past Ullmark.

 

This wild third period had the building energized and the roof nearly fell off  minutes later when the Panthers regained the lead from Eetu Luostarinen’s second goal of the series. 

 

“I couldn’t really hear what was going on in my head for the last 20 minutes,” Barkov said about the noise in the building. “It was insane, it was awesome.”

 

With the Bruins down one, they gave it one final push to try and tie up the game. A few big blocks by the Panthers eventually led to Sam Reinhart sending this series to seven with his 7-5 empty net goal. 

 

Florida trailed the series 3-1 last time they left for Boston – they will return to Massachusetts tomorrow riding a two-game winning streak in a 3-3 series. 

 

The two sides will face off for the final time this season on Sunday in Game 7. Winner goes onto the second round, the loser packs their bags and heads home for the year.

Game 5: Panthers stay alive in series with 4-3 overtime win in Boston

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On the brink of elimination and a goal away from their season coming to an end, the Florida Panthers lived to fight another day after their Game 5, 4-3 overtime win against the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden Wednesday night. 

 

A back and forth game saw the Panthers score the first goal of the game for just the second time in the series. The team that scored first through the first four games ended up winning.

 

8:26 into the first, Anthony Duclair opened the scoring. Carter Verhaeghe carried the puck behind the Bruins net, taking goaltender Linus Ullmark out of position. Duclair batted Verhaeghe’s shot-pass out of mid-air to score his first goal of the playoffs. 

 

The Panthers held onto their one goal lead into the first intermission, but it took Boston just a few minutes out of the break to tie the game, off of a Brad Marchand power play goal.

 

Boston flat out dominated the second period, outshooting the Panthers 18-8. The Panthers were holding onto the tie until the dying minutes of the period where playoff Sam Bennett picked up his third goal of the series to give Florida a 2-1 lead.

 

Florida led the Bruins after the first two periods for the first time all series. 

 

A big story of tonight’s game was Boston’s resilience all night. Three times the Panthers took the lead in regulation and three times the Bruins tied the game. 

 

With the game dwindling down, the Panthers were called for too many men on the ice with 3:35 left in a 3-3 game. The Bruins who had been peppering Sergei Bobrovsky all night had a chance to basically end the game if they could score their third power play goal of the night. 

 

The Panthers came up strong on the kill and overtime seemed on the horizon in Boston. 

 

With 7.7 seconds left in the third, Florida had a faceoff in the Bruins zone. It looked like the Panthers would have the last chance of regulation, but that wasn’t the case. Florida fumbled at the blue line and Marchand turned on the jets to get a last second breakaway on Bobrovsky. 

 

With about a second left in regulation, Marchand ripped what would have been the game winning shot towards Bobrovsky. The Panthers goalie stood tall and denied Marchand for his 40th save of the game. He finished the night with 44 saves.

 

The teams were heading to overtime for the first time in the series. 

 

Now in sudden death OT, both teams were expected to play it carefully and only take a chance if the coast was clear. 

 

Six minutes into overtime, Verhaeghe chased down a puck behind the Bruins net on the forecheck. A bad passing attempt by Ullmark found its way to Verhaeghe rather than a Bruins player. 

 

Verhaeghe’s off angle shot found its way to Matthew Tkachuk in front of goal and the Panthers star forward iced the game with the overtime winner.

 

The Panthers were able to win their second playoff game on the road in Boston to force a Game 6 back at home in Sunrise on Friday with the series at 3-2 in favor of the Bruins.

Panthers fly to Boston facing elimination – Get Duclair and Ekblad back, Lomberg and Bennett questionable

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SUNRISE – With Game 5 one day away, the Florida Panthers will head to Boston today with the hopes of returning to Sunrise with another game on the schedule.

 

The Panthers held a practice today at FLA Live Arena with most of the team in attendance.  Both Aaron Ekblad and Anthony Duclair were full participants today after missing Game 4 to injury.

 

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice confirmed that both Ekblad and Duclair would be “good to go” for Game 5.

 

While two players come back into the lineup, there’s question marks surrounding another pair of Panthers. 

 

Sam Bennett and Ryan Lomberg were the only two players to not be on the ice today at practice.

 

Maurice said that he expects “one of them in for sure”, while the other will be a gametime decision. He did not specify which player would be the game time decision.

 

Bennett missed Game 1 with a lingering injury that had kept him out of the lineup for the last 12 games of the regular season. Bennett is a point-per-game in this series and is a key player as the Panthers’ second line center. 

 

Ryan Lomberg played in all 82 regular season games as well as the first four games of the playoffs. 

 

Both Bennett and Lomberg played their normal minutes in Sunday’s Game 4 loss. 

 

As for the starting goalie, Maurice didn’t say who would be in the net tomorrow, which was expected. Alex Lyon started Games 1-3, giving up nine goals over that span. Sergei Bobrovsky conceded five goals in his Game 4 start, while also giving up one goal in his short third period stint in Game 3.

 

Down 3-1 in the series, the Panthers locker room still has full confidence that they can turn the series around and return home for a Game 6 on Friday. 

 

“We’re not out of this series, we still got a lot more in our locker room, now it’s just do or die,” Sam Bennett said on Monday. 

 

The Bruins can advance to the second round with a win on Wednesday night, but they’ll still have some breathing room if they can’t get the job done at home tomorrow. The Panthers know the task at hand won’t be easy, but they have no other choice but to win – otherwise they’ll be packing up their lockers this week. 

 

“Essentially we got three Game 7’s coming up, we’re just going to focus on Game 5 right now,” Panthers defenseman Josh Mahura said. “Obviously it’s not the easiest situation to be in, but we’re not out of it. It’s the first team to four.”

 

Puck drop will be tomorrow at 7 p.m. ET at the TD Garden in Boston. 

 

If the Panthers can get out of Boston with a win, there will be a Game 6 on Friday in Sunrise.

Florida Panthers Game 4 lineup news

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SUNRISE – The question of who starts in net this afternoon for the Florida Panthers is still a mystery.

 

Head Coach Paul Maurice told the media that we will find out who is in net at game time. 

 

In Game 3 Florida ran both of their goalies. Alex Lyon started the game and Sergei Bobrovsky came in to finish it. 

 

Both goalies took part in the “extremely” optional practice yesterday in Sunrise. 

 

As for the rest of the lineup, that remains a question that is to be answered at puck drop.

 

Aaron Ekblad and Josh Mahura both left Friday night’s game with injuries. Ekblad took a few shifts after initially  leaving the ice, but ended up calling it a game.

 

Ekblad did take part in yesterday’s optional practice, while Josh Mahura did not.

 

The Panthers called up defenseman Lucas Carlsson from AHL Charlotte earlier today. Whether that is just to have an extra body with Charlotte not playing until April 28 or him being in the lineup will also be known later today at warmups. 

 

Carlsson had a phenomenal regular season with the Checkers – putting up 54 points in 61 games. In Charlotte’s first three playoff games this season, he has 4 points. 

The Bruins currently lead the series 2-1.

 

Puck drop is at 3:30 p.m. ET at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise.

 

Tonight’s Betting Odds – Presented by BettorEdge 

 

Bruins: Winner -146  Spread (-1.5)  +175 Over (6) -107

Panthers: Winner +146 Spread (+1.5) -175 Under (6) +107

 

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Five Takeaways from Panthers’ Game 1 loss to Bruins

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The 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs is officially underway and the Presidents’ Trophy winning Boston Bruins played host to the Florida Panthers at TD Garden on Monday night for Game 1 of their first round series. 

 

The Bruins defended their home ice with a 3-1 win over the Panthers; taking a 1-0 series lead. 

 

Here are the takeaways. 

Battle of the stars

The two best players in this series are David Pastrnak of the Bruins and Matthew Tkachuk of the Panthers. 

 

Tkachuk and Pastrnak were the only players from the two teams to score 100 points this season, with Pastrnak finishing with 113 and Tkachuk with 109.

The Bruins’ star winger continued in Game 1 what he did all season, score. Following his 61 goal regular season, Pastrnak got his first goal of the playoffs just 5:58 into the first period, with an open net tap in on the power play, putting the Bruins up 1-0.

 

Like his fellow Atlantic Division All-Star, Tkachuk got his first goal of the playoffs tonight in Boston. Tkachuk jumped in on the forecheck, corralled a loose puck and pulled a backhand forehand move to beat Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark, getting the Panthers on the board. 

 

Coming into the series we highlighted these two guys as players to watch, they didn’t disappoint tonight. 

 

Rough bounces for Alex Lyon gave the Bruins breathing room

Florida decided to run with their hot hand in net for Game 1, giving Alex Lyon his first NHL playoff start. 

 

In Game 1, Lyon made more than a few highlight reel saves. Glove saves, cross crease pad robberies, he made them all.

 

Unfortunately for Lyon, between all the great saves, there were a few bad bounces here and there that put the Panthers in a hole.

 

3:41 into the second, Brad Marchand sent a fairly weak wrist shot towards the Panthers’ goal. Lyon fluffed the routine glove save and the puck trickled in, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead. 

 

Later in the period with the Bruins leading by just one, it seemed like Lyon had covered a loose puck in his crease, but that wasn’t the case. 

 

After a few whacks in front, the puck perfectly landed on top of Lyon’s pad and sat there for a few seconds before Jake DeBrusk tapped it in to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead. 

Florida’s top line was awfully quiet

The Panthers top line of Carter Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov and Anthony Duclair should have had a bigger impact than they did tonight. 

 

Verhaeghe finished the regular season top 10 in the NHL for goals with 42 while Barkov had another PPG season. 

 

The Panthers captain went the entire game without a shot on goal and frankly wasn’t very noticeable tonight besides his 52% success rate in the face off circle. 

 

The rest of the line wasn’t much better. Anthony Duclair had the most “quality” looks out of the trio, but he still wasn’t able to threaten Ullmark. 

 

Florida needed offense badly in this game and they didn’t get any help from their number one line. 

Florida’s first round power play drought continues 

The Panthers did not score a single goal in last year’s first round series against Washington – yet they were still able to get out of that series in six games. The Cats only scored one goal on 31 power play chances in last season’s playoffs. 

 

Tonight the Panthers once again struck out on their mad-advantage, going 0/2. The Bruins were able to lock the Cats up on their second PP attempt, not giving them a moment to set up. 

 

It was pretty much the same story when Florida pulled the goalie for an extra attacker with about 3 minutes left in the game. 

Linus Ullmark shut the door

Boston’s starting goalie should be the favorite to win the Vezina, he was that good in the regular season. 

 

Tonight it was no different. 

 

Florida didn’t get “goalied” tonight, as the Bruins played a fairly complete team game. However, Ullmark still had to face 32 shots from a Panthers team who was firing pucks from pretty much everywhere in the o-zone. 

 

Ullmark made the saves he needed tonight and he got the goal support from his team, which was enough for Boston to take an early series lead