Marner scores tiebreaking goal as Maple Leafs beat Panthers 4-3 for 2-0 series lead

The Associated Press

· Posted: May 07, 2025 10:51 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Mitch Marner scored the tiebreaking extremity successful the 3rd play and the Toronto Maple Maple Leafs bushed the Florida Panthers 4-3 connected Wednesday nighttime to instrumentality a 2-0 pb successful their second-round playoff series.

Max Pacioretty and Max Domi each had a extremity and an assist, William Nylander besides scored and Morgan Rielly added 2 assists for the Maple Leafs. Joseph Woll had 25 saves successful spot of the injured Anthony Stolarz.

Anton Lundell had a extremity and an assist, and Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand besides scored for the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 16 saves.

The best-of-seven matchup betwixt Atlantic Division heavyweights present shifts to South Florida, with Game 3 acceptable for Friday.

Woll got the commencement aft Stolarz exited midway done Monday's bid opener pursuing an elbow to the caput from Panthers centre Sam Bennett.

Trailing 3-2 aft 2 periods, Florida tied it at 5:33 of the 3rd erstwhile Lundell shoveled his 3rd extremity of the playoffs past Woll.

Toronto regained the pb conscionable 17 seconds aboriginal erstwhile Marner fired a changeable from the boards that recovered its mode done postulation past a amazed Bobrovsky.

Woll made a immense halt connected Mackie Samoskevich with 9:59 near successful regulation, and Maple Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe swatted a escaped puck retired of the crease with nether six minutes to go. The Panthers continued to property and Sam Reinhart deed the station with conscionable implicit 3 minutes left, but the Maple Leafs held connected late.

Florida, a squad that beat Toronto successful 5 games 2 years agone astatine the aforesaid signifier of the playoffs, went up 2-1 conscionable 15 seconds into the mediate play erstwhile Marchand — a Maple Leafs playoff nemesis arsenic a subordinate of the Boston Bruins — took a walk from Lundell down debased disconnected a turnover by Rielly and roofed his archetypal of the playoffs.

Toronto tied it astatine 4:18 erstwhile Pacioretty chipped a puck past Panthers defenceman Seth Jones, finding Nylander successful beforehand who to buried his sixth extremity of the playoffs. It was also the prima forward's seventh constituent successful 3 games.

The Maple Leafs took a 3-2 pb with 2:51 remaining successful the 2nd erstwhile Domi took a walk from Steven Lorentz connected a 2-on-1 and one-timed his 2nd implicit a sprawling Bobrovsky.

Toronto got thing from 2 powerfulness plays wrong the game's archetypal 10 minutes earlier Florida struck 5 seconds into its archetypal antheral vantage erstwhile Barkov fired the puck past Woll for his 2nd astatine 10:58.

The Maple Leafs got their 3rd powerfulness play of the play erstwhile Dmitry Kulikov was whistled for hold of crippled for shooting the puck retired of play. Toronto again didn't get overmuch going until the 2nd portion took the crystal and Rielly fired a changeable from the constituent precocious successful the antheral vantage that Pacioretty — a steadfast scratch to commencement the postseason earlier scoring the bid clinching extremity against Ottawa successful the archetypal circular — tipped upstairs for his 2nd with 1:41 near successful the first.

The Panthers had defenceman Aaron Ekblad backmost pursuing a two-game suspension for a forearm to the chin of Tampa Bay Lightning guardant Brandon Hagel successful the archetypal round. The 29-year-old has played conscionable 3 of his team's past 25 games aft getting suspended successful March for violating the league's argumentation connected performance-enhancing drugs.