As they try to shake off Game 1 loss, can the Panthers build on a strong third period?
The message in the Florida Panthers’ dressing room after the second period was simple. Florida was down three goals to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday in Game 1 of their Stanley Cup playoffs second-round series. The Panthers played sloppy early and as a result were playing from behind basically from the opening puck drop.
Something had to change and quickly.
“Just start playing our game,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said.
The Panthers did just that, scoring three goals in the final frame and getting within one of tying the score twice but couldn’t get any closer in the 5-4 defeat at Scotiabank Arena.
In that final frame, a desperate Florida team put up 39 shot attempts and 16 shots on goal while registering 20 scoring chances and 10 high-danger chances, according to the advanced hockey statistics website Natural Stat Trick.
Third-line winger Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Uvis Balinskis scored goals in the opening five minutes of the period — Luostarinen on a shot from the slot after receiving a centering pass from Anton Lundell, Balinskis on a blast from the top of the left circle after passes from Brad Marchand and Nate Schmidt — to get the Panthers within a goal, 4-3.
The team then did everything it could to keep the game close, including killing off two penalties and Sergei Bobrovsky making a couple big saves — including stopping Max Domi on a breakaway with about seven minutes left — before Matthew Knies scored on a breakaway to give Toronto a 5-3 lead with six minutes left. Sam Bennett got the deficit back to just one goal with 1:55 left to play, but Florida could get no closer.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN).
“We just got better as the game went on,” Luostarinen said. “Everyone had faith. We got close, but can’t give that much up.”
What exactly did the Panthers give up early?
They were down 1-0 just 33 seconds into the game on a William Nylander wide-angled shot and down 3-1 by the end of the first period. A series of sloppy plays were Florida’s demise in the opening frame. The Panthers had just four shots on goal. The final goal of the period came 19 seconds after the Panthers scored their first goal via Seth Jones on the power play.
“We didn’t look like ourselves,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
The deficit grew to 4-1 midway through the second period on a Chris Tanev fluttering shot from the point that Bobrovsky couldn’t corral.
“It’s the second round of the playoffs,” Barkov said. “There’s no surprises here. Everyone is going to play as hard as possible. They came out a little better than us, got the lead they needed.”
Florida did what it needed to do to make the game competitive, but Maurice is taking that with a caveat. He liked the push he saw from his team but also knows the Maple Leafs were doing what they had to do to protect their lead.
“It wasn’t a great start by us,” Barkov said. “We knew they were going to come hard and strong, but we got a little better once the game went on. We’ll learn from this game. Learn and move on.”
No discipline expected for Sam Bennett
Bennett is reportedly not expected to face any supplemental discipline for his hit on Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz in the second period Monday, according to TSN’s Chris Johnston.
With 12:40 left in the second period, Bennett struck Stolarz in the back of the helmet. Stolarz hit the ice momentarily, but stayed in the game for about three more minutes of game action — about nine minutes in real time — before ultimately being replaced by backup Joseph Woll. A penalty was not called on the play, and the Maple Leafs took exception to the hit.
In the first period, Stolarz also took a hard shot off the mask from a Sam Reinhart shot attempt that dislodged his mask.
Sportsnet cameras caught Stolarz vomiting over the boards and into a bucket brought over by the team’s training staff. Johnston reported Monday night that Stolarz was taken to a local hospital on a stretcher during the third period.
“He’s being evaluated,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said postgame. “That’s all I’ve got for ya.”
Stolarz spent last season with the Panthers as Bobrovsky’s backup and turned his stellar season with Florida into a two-year, $5 million deal with Toronto.
“We’re hopeful for Anthony and his health,” Maurice said. “We love that guy. We hope he gets better.”
As for his vantage point on the play, Maurice simply said it was “not nearly as good as the referee’s vantage point. He was standing right there.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 10:07 AM.
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