Panthers get shut down by rookie goalie with chance to sweep Leafs. Game 5 is Friday
The Florida Panthers wanted to deliver a killing blow to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
Maybe they wanted it a little too much.
For the first time in two weeks, the Panthers were disjointed in Game 4 of their second-round series with the Maple Leafs. Their offense was scattershot and their defense not quite as precise as it has been, and Toronto is alive after beating Florida, 2-1, in Sunrise.
The Panthers’ six-game postseason winning streak is over. They’ll have to wait at least two more days to clinch their first trip to the Stanley Cup Conference Finals since 1996.
Florida, which won three straight to upset the Bruins in seven games the first round and then three more in a row to take a commanding lead on the Maple Leafs, now lead 3-1 in the second round and will have to go to Toronto on Friday for another shot to close out the series in Game 5. For now, the Panthers still have plenty of time to try to win this series, but they know how quickly momentum can shift in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
In Round 1, Florida dropped 3 of 4 to start its series with Boston, then stormed back to pull off the biggest upset in a best-of-7 in NHL history, in terms of points differential. In Round 2, Toronto is trying to pull off an even bigger stunner.
The Maple Leafs could have gone either way in Game 4. Already on the brink of elimination, they could have rolled over and been content to start their offseason as soon as possible or they could’ve fought to keep their season alive, knowing a comeback, while not likely, is not impossible.
NHL teams have rallied from 3-0 deficits four times in history, and the Maple Leafs are now three wins away from becoming the fifth, and two of the three potential remaining games would be up in Canada. The odds are still greatly in the Panthers’ favor, but certainly less favorable now than they were earlier in the week.
There’s also, at issue, Florida’s performance. The Panthers have been outshot through three games of this series, and are generating fewer scoring chances and high-danger chances than Toronto. It just didn’t matter until Wednesday because of Sergei Bobrovsky’s spectacular play and some timely goals off turnovers.
The star goaltender was again excellent in Game 4, stopping 23 of 25 shots. It was mostly the offense letting down Florida.
The Panthers and Maple Leafs mostly felt each other out for the first period, with neither side decidedly controlling play and the two teams only combining for 13 shots. Florida got the first power play with 1:54 left in the first, but didn’t do much with it and the game remained scoreless at the first intermission.
It turned out to be a costly missed opportunity. Star winger William Nylander scored on Toronto’s first power play — with an assist in the form of a fortuitous bounce off an official — and the Maple Leafs went up 1-0 with 16:31 left in the second period.
The score stayed there until All-Star right wing Mitch Marner scored on a long-range shot through traffic to make it 2-0 with 9:57 remaining. Until then, the Panthers only had 17 shots and 11 high-danger chances, and couldn’t crack Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll, who was making just the 12th start of his NHL career.
The rookie finished with 23 saves and didn’t give up a goal until Sam Reinhart scored on a power play with 7:46 left on one of his five shots.
The forward’s power-play goal finally energized the 19,868 inside FLA Live Arena and gave some life to another comeback bid, only this one — after four successful ones during Florida’s six-game winning streak — never quite materialized. The Panthers had only three more shots the rest of the way and lost for the first time in more than two weeks.
This story was originally published May 10, 2023 at 9:38 PM.
