Marner, Maple Leafs edge Panthers in Game 2 of Eastern 2nd Round
Mitch Marner broke a tie at 5:50 of the third period, and the Toronto Maple Leafs held off the Florida Panthers 4-3 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.
Marner’s shot from above the right face-off circle beat Sergei Bobrovsky high to the blocker side.
Anton Lundell had tied it 3-3 for Florida 17 seconds earlier when he redirected a pass at the left side of the goal crease from Aaron Ekblad, who was at the right boards.
“We’re just trying to keep our calmness,” Marner said. “It’s going to be a roller-coaster ride throughout every game. There’s going to be different ups and downs throughout everything. We’re playing a heck of a hockey team over there and you know they’re going to come with everything especially when they’re down goals, and for us, it’s just trying to stay even-keeled throughout it all. Try to just focus on your next shift. You can’t change anything in the past, so just stay in the present, stay in the moment, try to do your thing, and luckily enough I threw a puck on net and it went in.”
The Maple Leafs played 5-on-6 for the final 2:55 with Bobrovsky pulled for an extra skater.
Max Pacioretty and Max Domi each had a goal and an assist, and Joseph Woll made 25 saves in his first start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Maple Leafs, who are the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Division and lead the best-of-7 series 2-0. Game 3 will be at Florida on Friday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).
“It’s something I had to focus on and come up with a plan to stay ready as well as I can,” said Woll, who last started on April 17. “It’s a different challenge than playing every night but a challenge nonetheless. I think I’ve done what I needed to do to prepare to be in this spot.”
Woll played 29:46 in Toronto’s 5-4 victory in Game 1 on Monday after replacing starter Anthony Stolarz, who left the game after he went to the Maple Leafs bench at 10:12 of the second period and began vomiting.
Lundell had a goal and an assist, and Bobrovsky made 16 saves for the Panthers, the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic.
“We didn’t love our Game 1 but we liked our game here tonight,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “We came out on the road and lost two games, but we get to go back home now.
“There will be lots of stuff we like about our game that we think we can improve on and do more with. We will take a look at it and get better.”
After the Maple Leafs failed to convert on two power plays, Aleksander Barkov put the Panthers up 1-0 at 10:58 of the first period, scoring on Florida’s first man-advantage when he shot past Woll’s glove from the left face-off dot.
Pacioretty tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 18:19 when he deflected Morgan Rielly’s point shot at the top of the goal crease.
Brad Marchand put the Panthers back up 2-1 at 15 seconds of the second period with his first goal of the playoffs. Rielly’s clearing attempt was knocked down along the boards by Eetu Luostarinen, who pushed it to Lundell in the slot. Lundell dropped the puck to Marchand, who cut across the crease and beat Woll with a backhand.
William Nylander tied it 2-2 at 4:18, scoring from the slot off a pass from Pacioretty on a 2-on-1.
“Their biggest threat is that they are very good on the rush,” Marchand said. “You have to be above them. It seemed like every time we gave them the opportunity to get above us, they created something and capitalized on it. It just shows how dangerous they are. It doesn’t take much for them to score, so we just have to make sure we are pretty much perfect out there on our defensive coverage.”
Woll kept it tied at 12:14 when he kicked out his left pad to stop Marchand’s shot from the inside edge of the left circle.
“Very calm and cool in net I thought, and made saves,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said of Woll. “Pucks are coming to the net all the time playing Florida, so he was on his toes and fighting through traffic making the saves that were needed. Very impressed with him tonight.”
Domi put the Maple Leafs up 3-2 from the left circle at 17:09 when he one-timed a pass from Steven Lorentz high to the blocker side on a 2-on-1.
“We had everyone going,” Domi said. “It takes everyone to win at this time of year, so it was a big win, but we need to get ready for the next one now.
“Nothing has changed. It’s playoff hockey, that’s how it goes. You just have to ride the waves, not get too up, not get too down, stay as even-keeled as you can. I thought we did a really good job of that tonight. Joe was unbelievable. We capitalized when we could and made the plays we needed.”
