Global Courant 2023-05-11 06:59:10
The Maple Leafs are not done yet.
Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist as Toronto defeated the Florida Panthers 2-1 in an unwinnable Game 4 to cut the deficit to 3-1 in the teams’ second round on Wednesday.
William Nylander also scored for the visiting Leafs. Rookie goaltender Joseph Woll made 24 saves in his first post-season start with Ilya Samsonov sidelined due to injury. Marner and Nylander both scored a seven-game goal drought.
Sam Reinhart answered for the Panthers, who got 23 stops from Sergei Bobrovsky.
Toronto is looking to become just the fifth team in NHL history to climb out of a 3-0 hole. Toronto will be postponed for at least 48 hours and will host Game 5 of Friday’s best-of-seven matchup at Scotiabank Arena.
Game 6, if needed, would be back in South Florida on Sunday.
LOOK | Marner scores decisive goal to help Maple Leafs force Game 5:
Marner pockets the winner as Leafs extend the series with Panthers to a 5th game
Mitch Marner’s goal in the third period was enough to give Toronto a 2-1 win in game four over Florida, forcing a game five in Toronto on Friday.
The Leafs got a big break at 3:28 of the second period on their first power play.
Toronto winger Michael Bunting tried to put the puck behind Florida’s net, but it went from the umpire in the corner to Nylander, who shot the puck off the post, off Bobrovsky and in for his first goal of the series and third of the game. playoffs for a 1-0 lead.
WILLY STYLES!! pic.twitter.com/YMKJ2Ieufj
The Panthers netminder made a big stop on Bunting on another Toronto advantage later in the period. David Kampf was then held back tightly twice.
Woll, who got the call after Samsonov was injured in Game 3, held the fort on the other end before Kampf was crushed by Florida’s Radko Gudas after the whistle after a delayed Toronto penalty. The Leafs forward went to the locker room, but returned for the third period.
John Tavares had a great chance late in the second inning to make it 2-0, but Bobrovsky was there to deny the Toronto captaincy – just like he did in Game 2.
Woll made a nice stop on a Josh Mahura tip five minutes after the third before Marner, a lightning rod for criticism after a forgettable Game 3, made it 2-0 at 10:03 of the third when his shot from range cut through a crowd fooled Bobrovsky for his third.
Fans cheer during Game 4 at the Maple Leafs’ tailgate outside Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. (Nav Rahi/CBC)
Reinhart, who scored in overtime of Game 3, made it 2-1 with 7:47 left on a Florida power play that just crossed the goal line on a scramble for his sixth.
But the visitors held out late to force the series back to Toronto.
The underdog Panthers – 19 points behind the Leafs in the regular season and the No. 8 of the Eastern Conference after claiming the second wild card spot – won their first three games, including two in Toronto 4-2 and 3-2 margins before clinching Sunday’s 3-2 OT victory at the FLA Live Arena.
The Leafs’ star-forward quartet, consisting of Auston Matthews, Nylander, Tavares and Marner, combined to score zero goals in the first three games of the series.
With Wednesday’s victory, Toronto postponed the start of a summer of unavoidable questions of coaching, management and roster construction that would have come with a disastrous second-round run that would follow the organization’s best playoff moment in nearly two decades.
Toronto finally broke into the postseason for the first time since 2004 – including six straight losses to Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Morgan Rielly – as the club moved past the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round.
All those good feelings, including wild street parties in the hockey-crazy city, withered in less than two weeks on the vine with three losses, including a dismal performance from some of the team’s top players in Game 3.
Now the Leafs have a little life.
Meanwhile, the Panthers saw their franchise record in the playoffs end after six games, but will have three more cracks to beat Toronto after pulling off the same feat against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins in seven games after trailing that series 3 -1.
