Brad Marchand flung a shot towards net that struck Morgan Rielly and tumbled over a helpless Joseph Woll to give the Florida Panthers a enormous 5-4 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 3 at Amerant Bank Arena.
It was the night of the greasy goal in suburban Sunrise.
As they did in Game 1 in Toronto, the Maple Leafs struck early (23 seconds), deflating most of the sellout crowd on hand. Mitch Marner moved back to the blue line and fluttered a shot in that was deflected off the cross bar by Auston Matthews and wristed into the beckoning net by Matthew Knies.
John Tavares put the Buds up by two at the 5:57 mark, badly beating Sergei Bobrovsky on a wraparound. The Panthers got too aggressive on the forecheck and the Maple Leafs counter burned them yet again. The assists on the goal went to Max Pacioretty and William Nylander.
The first of four own goals came 1:41 later, and thankfully, it went to the Panthers. Evan Rodrigues was able to free the puck from along the boards to Sam Reinhart in the left circle. Reinhart immediately sent a cheeky backhand feed to Aleksander Barkov, who drove to the net. While falling, Barkov got the puck in front and Rielly inadvertently smacked it in. Thank you, Morgan!
The Panthers’ power play was firing on all cylinders when Brandon Carlo was sent off for interfence at 12:16, but they were unable to come up with the equalizer on the man-advantage, and the period would eventually end with Florida down one.
Toronto would restore its two-goal advantage after A.J. Greer took a needless interfence penalty in the offensive zone. Marner again toasted the Cats from up high, whipping a hard pass to Tavares, who deflected it off Gustav Forsling’s glove and past a beleagured Bobrovsky 2:52 into the middle frame. The secondary helper on Tavares’ second of the night went to Nylander.
Down by a deuce again, the Panthers quickly went to work and would end up a goal ahead going into the third.
Aaron Ekblad was able to collect Forsling’s dump around the boards and slip a pass to Rodrigues in the right circle. Rodrigues wristed the puck on Woll and a diving Reinhart was able to poke the puck underneath both Carlo and his fallen keeper, and get it over goal line at 4:13. The goal was initially waved off and then awarded upon video review.
After the limited Matthew Tkachuk kept the puck pinned along the boards just outside the Toronto blue line, Sam Bennett swooped in, took possession and burst towards the cage. Bennett pulled Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the ice and then sent a goregous backhand centering feed to Carter Verhaeghe, who couldn’t, and didn’t miss. Verhaghe’s goal came just 63 seconds after Reinhart’s. Tie game.
Florida took the lead at 15:17 when Nate Schimdt’s outlet pass up the boards eluded Marner and was reeled in by Tomas Nosek, who was making his Panthers playoff debut. The veteran crossed the line and cut to the middle before snapping off a shot that ticked off Jonah Gadjovich’s shaft. The little change of direction handcuffed Woll and the puck went in off his blocker, giving Gadjovich, who was playing his first-ever professional playoff game, his first career postseason goal.
A back and forth third period saw the Panthers nurse its advantage until disaster struck at 10:56. Bobrovsky easily fended off Rielly’s routine shot from the right boards, but he blockered the puck into Seth Jones’ right knee and it bounce into the net. Matthews and Knies were credited with the assists on another frustrating bit of Toronto puck luck.
Full credit to Bobrovsky, after this goal he snapped back into the form we’ve all come to expect from him and he would not yield the rest of the way. His best stop came in the fourth period on the cherry-picking Nylander, who deftly took a stretch pass out of the air and then blistered a shot on goal that was confidently kicked out. He made another fine save on Knies 1:50 before Marchand ended it.
That winning goal came at 15:27 of overtime. After keeping the Maple Leafs hemmed in their own end, Verhaeghe and Dmitry Kulikov combined to work the puck up the right boards to Marchand, who cut across the zone and then let fly from the top of the left circle. His wrister struck Rielly up high and found the twine. Sweet relief!
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a series!
Rakes & Bags
- After a couple of near misses earlier in the game, and with the aid of Morgan Rielly, Brad Marchand got his only shot on goal to go, giving the Panthers the huge Game 3 win. Marchand, who played 23:17, was credited with two hits and a block and named First Star by the media.
- In addition to being the night of the greasy goal, it was also a night filled with multi-point performances. On the Panthers side, Sam Reinhart (1G/1A), Carter Verhaeghe (1G/1A), and Evan Rodrigues (2A) each collected two points.
- Sticking with Reinhart and Verhaeghe for a second, Reinhart matched John Tavares with a game-high six shots and Verhaeghe dished out seven hits, including a bone-jarring knock-down of Brandon Carlo.
- The Toronto skaters who finished with two points were Tavares (2G), Matthew Knies (1G/1A), Mitch Marner (2A), Auston Matthews (2A) and William Nylander (2A).
- After a rough start, Sergei Bobrovsky was able to settle in and turn aside 27 of 31 shots faced. Joseph Woll made 31 saves for the Maple Leafs.
StatCard
