recap fla vs tor 16x9 5-7

TORONTO – For the second straight game, close wasn’t good enough.

Suffering their second consecutive one-goal defeat, the Florida Panthers came up just a hair short in a 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

“I think you have to understand your game,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We didn’t like our Game 1, but we liked our game here tonight. Come out on the road, we lost two one-goal games, and we get to go back home now.”

Despite being down 2-0 in the series, the Panthers always say they’re ready to play seven.

“That’s the mentality,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “Get home, get our crowd behind us and put together a good home game.”

As it has been for a while now, the penalty kill stepped up early for the Panthers.

Down a man just 2:20 into the first period after an interference penalty, the Panthers survived Toronto’s first power play, which featured a few big saves form Sergei Bobrovsky.

Later, the Panthers, this time after an oddly late whistle on a trip for Brad Marchand, held their ground a second time, holding the Maple Leafs to no shots on goal on the power play.

After a pair of successful kills, the Panthers were rewarded with their own power play.

Making quick work out of their trip to the man advantage, Aleksander Barkov, moments after winning a faceoff, took a pass from Seth Jones and beat Joseph Woll with a wicked wrist shot from the left circle to break the ice and make it 1-0 at 10:58.

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      Aleksander Barkov scores on the power play in the first period against Toronto.

      Asking a bit too much of their penalty kill, the Panthers were unable to kill off Toronto’s third power play of the period as Max Pacioretty tipped in a shot to even the score and make it 1-1 at 18:19.

      Getting that goal back for the Panthers just 15 seconds into the second period, Marchand drove to the net and roofed a shot straight over Woll’s glove to make it 2-1.

      Staying hot, Eetu Luostarinen intercepted a clearing attempt to kickstart the sequence.

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          Brad Marchand scores early in the second period to make it 2-1 against Toronto.

          Picking up another point and tying things up for Toronto, Pacioretty found William Nylander dashing down the slot toward the net and set him up for a nifty goal to make it 2-2 at 4:18.

          After that, things got a bit weird.

          With the whistles starting to blow, the Panthers received one of the oddest penalties that any team has received in quite some time when Evan Rodrigues was called for embellishment after being crushed into the boards by Toronto forward Scott Laughton.

          Clearly not an embellishment, Rodrigues couldn’t even serve the penalty as he went down the tunnel to locker room to get checked out, so Jesper Boqvist went to the box in his place.

          Following the game, Maurice said he receive no explanation for the call.

          Unable to get to the second intermission with the tie intact, Max Domi put the Maple Leafs up 3-2 when he took a pass from former Panther Steven Lorentz on a 2-on-1 rush and scored at 17:09.

          “There biggest threat is they’re very good on the rush,” Marchand said. “You’ve got to be above ‘em. It seemed like every time we gave them the opportunity to get above us, they created something or capitalized on it. It just shows how dangerous they are.”

          With the third line continuing to lead the charge, Anton Lundell tied the game in the third period when he went net and deposited a feed from Ekblad to make it 3-3 at 5:33.

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              Anton Lundell makes it 3-3 in the third period against Toronto.

              Just 17 seconds later, Mitch Marner scored to put Toronto back up 4-3 at 5:50.

              From there, the Panthers peppered Woll with shots but couldn’t tie things up in time.

              “Obviously, it was a tight game all the way through,” Ekblad said. “That’s the type of game we expect to play, and we’re comfortable in those games. They got the best of us in their building, and we’ll find a way to do it in ours.”

              THEY SAID IT

              “We knew it was going to be a really tough battle. We didn’t expect to roll over them, by any means. We have our work cut out. They’re playing really well.” – Brad Marchand

              “They do a good job of stretching out the game. We’re all about pressure and being above us. It’s just important that we realize when guys are behind us.” – Aaron Ekblad

              “Just focus on what we can control. We’re going home. I think we’ve got confidence at home. Just learn from this game and move on.” – Mackie Samoskevich

              CATS STATS

              - Aleksander Barkov netted the fourth power-play goal of his career.

              - The Panthers had 25 of their shots blocked.

              - Eetu Luostarinen recorded two assists.

              - Brad Marchand extended his point streak to four games.

              - Anton Lundell has scored in three of his last four games.

              - The Panthers led 31-11 in scoring chances at 5-on-5.

              WHAT’S NEXT?

              It’s time for some home cooking.

              Returning to South Florida, the Panthers will host the Maple Leafs for Game 3 at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. ET.

              For tickets, click HERE.

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