TORONTO (AP) — William Nylander received the Toronto Maple Leafs off to a quick begin within the second spherical of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Nylander scored twice within the first interval earlier than including an help as Toronto constructed a giant lead earlier than holding on to beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 on Monday night time within the sequence opener.
Matthew Knies and Chris Tanev every had a aim and an help, and Morgan Rielly additionally scored for the Maple Leafs. Max Pacioretty and Jake McCabe every had two assists.
“We’ve been in tight video games all through the season,” Nylander stated. “We dug into that and tried to bear down.”
Anthony Stolars stopped eight of the 9 pictures he confronted earlier than leaving within the second interval after he took an elbow to the pinnacle from Panthers ahead Sam Bennett, who wasn’t penalized on the play. The Maple Leafs stated the 31-year-old was being evaluated, however supplied no additional replace.
“Elbow to the pinnacle,” Toronto coach Craig Berube stated. “Clear as day. … I get it, they miss calls. But it surely’s clearly a penalty.”
Joseph Woll stopped 17 pictures in reduction.
Seth Jones, Eetu Luostarinen, Uvis Balinskis and Sam Bennett scored for the Panthers, and Brad Marchand and Carter Verhaeghe every had two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 pictures.
Florida beat Toronto in 5 video games within the second spherical within the 2023 playoffs on the best way to reaching the Stanley Cup Last. The Panthers went one step additional final 12 months once they received the Cup for the primary time in franchise historical past.
Sport 2 is Wednesday again at Scotiabank Enviornment, earlier than shifting to South Florida for 2 video games.
Toronto opened the scoring simply 33 seconds after puck drop when Nylander beat Bobrovsky by way of the five-hole from a decent angle for his fourth aim of the playoffs.
The Maple Leafs, who beat Ottawa in six video games within the first spherical to register simply the second sequence win for the Authentic Six franchise in additional than 20 years, went up 2-0 with 7:09 left within the first when Nylander scooped up a rebound earlier than deking Bobrovsky to the ice and roofing his second of the interval.
“He got here out and was feeling it,” Rielly stated of the slick winger. “That helps set the tone.”
Jones received the Panthers on the board with a shot from the purpose by way of visitors on an influence play with 3:03 remaining for his second of the postseason.
Toronto restored its two-goal lead simply 19 seconds later when Nylander despatched Rielly off to the races on a 2-on-1 with John Tavares. The defenseman and longest serving member of the present roster seemed Bobrovsky off earlier than firing previous the goalie’s blocker for his third of the postseason.
“Clearly it wasn’t an important begin by us,” Panthers ahead Aleksander Barkov stated. “We knew they had been going to come back arduous and robust.”
Florida, which beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in 5 video games to advance, received a person benefit within the second that noticed Stolarz make a few stops, however Bennett caught him with a sneaky elbow to the again of the pinnacle.
Toronto made it 4-1 at 7:50 when Tanev’s knuckling shot from distance fooled Bobrovsky for his first.
Stolarz, who backed up Bobrovsky on the best way to Florida’s Cup win a 12 months in the past, was seen on tv vomiting by the bench a couple of minutes later earlier than getting changed by Woll.
Nylander had an opportunity to finish the primary playoff hat trick of his profession on a shot that knocked the stick out of Bobrovsky’s hand however the puck stayed out because the Maple Leafs headed to the locker room up three.
Luostarinen minimize the deficit again to 2 on a redirection 1:41 into the third, and Balinskis then made it 4-3 at 4:30 after a Panthers push inside a all of the sudden tense constructing.
“We didn’t appear to be ourselves,” Florida head coach Paul Maurice stated of his crew’s opening interval. “After which (we) righted it within the second and after that had a reasonably good push within the third.”
Toronto failed to attach on two energy performs later in third earlier than Bobrovsky denied Max Domi on a break.
Knies made it 5-3 with 6 minutes left in regulation with a transfer to the backhand on one other breakaway.
Bennett received his crew again inside one with 1:55 left in regulation on a pinballed shot off a Toronto stick, however Woll and the Maple Leafs held the fort late to safe an early lead within the sequence.
“That was good for us,” Nylander stated. “However we’re simply centered on subsequent sport now.”
The Panthers had been with out defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who completed off a two-game suspension for his headshot on Tampa Bay ahead Brandon Hagel within the opening spherical.
The Maple Leafs have three gamers from the Panthers’ championship crew — Stolarz, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Steven Lorentz.
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