Global Courant 2023-05-13 07:38:00
The Maple Leafs are out of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Nick Cousins scored at 3:32 in overtime and Sergei Bobrovsky made 50 saves as the Florida Panthers defeated Toronto 3–2 to win the teams’ second round playoffs 4–1.
Cousins buried his second goal of the playoffs at the Leafs short end off Leafs rookie Joseph Woll in extra period to send his team to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1996.
Aaron Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe each provided a goal and an assist for the rest of the Panthers’ offense.
Florida – the team with the fewest points to qualify for the postseason – won all three games in Toronto and improved to 6-1 on the road this spring after also upsetting the record-breaking Boston Bruins. The Panthers will meet the Carolina Hurricanes in the third round after passing the New Jersey Devils in five games.
Morgan Rielly and Willian Nylander answered for the Leafs, who advanced into the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades as they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.
Woll made 41 stops in his first home playoff start for Toronto, which faces an uncertain off-season despite his breakthrough against Tampa, having made 24 saves in Wednesday’s Game 4 that avoided the sweep.
Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas is out of contract after June 30, while there are also rumblings about head coach Sheldon Keefe’s future.
Nylander and Auston Matthews both have one year left on their contracts and can sign extensions from July 1, while fellow player Mitch Marner’s no-movement clause takes effect on the same day.
Toronto’s powerful offense – including the so-called “Core Four” of Matthews, Nylander, Marner and John Tavares – scored just three runs in the series for a team that has tallied just 14 goals in its last seven playoff games, including a paltry 10 against the Panthers.
The Leafs finished the postseason 1-5 at home.
