TORONTO — Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 34 shots, Matthew Tkachuk had three assists and the Florida Panthers outlasted the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 4-2 win on opening game of their second-round playoff series.
With the win, Florida has now won four consecutive postseason games. The Panthers overcame a 3-1 series deficit to stun the record-setting Boston Bruins with three straight victories in the opening round.
"Credit to Florida," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "They played a great game today. But it's a long series, just like the last one we played."
Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, and Nick Cousins all scored goals for Florida. Aleksander Barkov registered two assists and Bennett had an assist as well.
Matthew Knies scored his first-career NHL goal, and Michael Bunting also scored for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov stopped 24 shots in the losing effort.
The Panthers struck first when Cousins scored on a rebound at 9:25 of the opening period.
During the second period, Bobrovsky made a couple of huge saves during a Maple Leafs power play, denying shot attempts by Auston Matthews.
Florida then went up 2-0 at 7:58, when Bennett tipped a point shot past Samsonov that initially hit the stick of Knies.
The Panthers would end up squandering the two-goal lead late in the second period as the Maple Leafs made their push. But the Panthers were able to respond and silence the raucous crowd at Scotiabank Arena.
In the third period, Verhaeghe took a pass from Anthony Duclair and put Florida ahead for good when he beat Samsonov on a breakaway at 17:47 for his fourth goal of the playoffs.
Toronto had a couple of opportunities to draw even in the third, most notably when Montour blasted a one-timer on a delayed penalty at 12:24. Another chance came when Bobrovsky denied William Nylander on a terrific toe stop with just over a minute left in regulation that would've cut the deficit to one.
Game 2 is Thursday in Toronto.
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