The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are one win away from a third consecutive trip to the conference final and from extending the Toronto Maple Leafs’ playoff misery.
The Panthers embarrassed the Maple Leafs 6-1 on Wednesday and took a 3-2 lead in a series in which they had lost the first two games. They can clinch a trip to the third round with a victory Friday night in Sunrise, Florida.
The Maple Leafs came out poorly after back-to-back losses, failing to halt the Panthers’ momentum in the series. They were outshot 14-6 in the first period and outscored 1-0. Florida then outscored Toronto 3-0 in the second period. Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll was pulled for Matt Murray when Florida made it 5-0.
Toronto had reached the second round for the second time since 2004, but one more loss would make it 23 years since the team last reached the conference finals. They last won the Stanley Cup in 1967.
Takeaways from Game 5 between the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs:
Panthers’ depth pays off
After the opening two losses, Panthers coach Paul Maurice swapped out his fourth line and tweaked his top two lines for Game 3, sparking the turnaround. Fourth-liners Jonah Gadjovich (Game 3) and A.J. Greer (Game 5) have scored since the move. Jesper Boqvist was inserted into the top line Wednesday for injured Evan Rodrigues and got a goal.
All told, 17 Panthers players have a goal in the playoffs. Florida received three goals from defensemen on Wednesday, and Sam Bennett scored his sixth goal of the playoffs.
Maple Leafs stars come up short
Auston Matthews doesn’t have a goal in the series and had a giveaway on the Panthers’ first goal by Aaron Ekblad. Mitch Marner, a pending unrestricted free agent, had a bad giveaway with a backhand pass on the Panthers’ third goal. He has one shot in the last three games. The top power play unit didn’t look good on a third-period effort.
Playoff Sergei Bobrovsky is back
He gave up 13 goals in the first three games of the series but nothing after Morgan Rielly scored midway through the third period of Game 3 until Nick Robertson scored with 1:06 left in Game 5. That was a shutout streak of more than 143 minutes. Though Toronto didn’t get many shots in the first period, Bobrovsky came up big on a William Nylander breakaway and a Matthew Knies power-play shot.
Panthers vs. Maple Leafs highlights
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