RECAP: Maple Leafs 5, Panthers 4

TORONTO – Despite a valiant push to try and tie the game late in regulation, the Florida Panthers couldn’t recover from an early deficit in a 5-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.

Entering the third period, the defending Stanley Cup champions trailed 4-1.

“Obviously, it wasn’t a great start by us," captain Aleksander Barkov said. "We knew they were going to come hard and strong. It wasn’t a great start by us, but we got better as the game went on. We’ll learn from this game. Not the result we wanted, but we’ll learn and move on.”

Breaking the ice just 33 seconds into the first period, William Nylander got the home crowd fired up when he beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a sneaky shot to put the Maple Leafs up 1-0.

Finding the back of the net a second time, Nylander doubled the lead for the Maple Leafs later in the period when he pounced on a rebound and buried it to make it 2-0 at 12:51.

In six career playoff games against Florida, Nylander has scored four goals.

Getting the Panthers on the board on the power play, Seth Jones took a pass from Matthew Tkachuk and fired a shot down the slot past Anthony Stolarz to make it 2-1 at 16:57.

Regaining the two-goal cushion for Toronto just 19 seconds later, Morgan Rielly kept the puck for himself on a 2-on-1 rush and ripped a shot past Bobrovsky to make it 3-1 at 17:16.

Coming out with a head full of stream, the Maple Leafs led 12-4 in shots in the first period.

“It was the perfect storm of that’s not the way you want to start when everybody’s got lots of energy and jump, but there’s some tension to it always at the start,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “That was the first period. We didn’t look like ourselves, and then got right at the second and after that had a pretty good push to the third.”

In the second period, Maple Leafs padded their lead even further when Chris Tanev knuckled a puck through traffic and into the back of the cage to make it 4-1 at 7:50.

Later in the period, Stolarz was replaced by Joseph Woll in Toronto’s net due to an injury.

Improving but still not rewarded, Florida led 10-5 in scoring chances in the second period.

Cutting into the deficit for the Panthers early in the third period, Eetu Luostarinen, who racked up four points in the series-clinching win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Round 1, went to the net and deflected in a centering pass from Anton Lundell to make it 4-2 at 1:39.

Making it a one-goal game soon after, Uvis Balinskis, who’s done a great job filling during Aaron Ekblad’s absence, beat Woll with a snipe from the left circle to make it 4-3 at 4:30.

“A little sloppy start,” Luostarinen said. “We were slow there, but we just got better as the game went on. Everyone had faith. We got close, but can’t give that much up.”

Keeping the Panthers within striking distance, the penalty kill stood tall once again with a huge kill against Toronto’s vaunted five-forward power play. Heading back to the kill later in the period, they shut down the Maple Leafs yet again to finish the game a perfect 5-for-5.

With 6:50 left in regulation, Bobrovsky robbed Max Domi on a breakaway with his glove.

Just 50 seconds later, Matthew Knies cashed in on a breakaway of his own to put Toronto up 5-3.

Prior to the goal, Sam Reinhart was tripped on a penalty that went un-called.

Never throwing in the towel, the Panthers kept pushing and made it a one-goal game once again late in regulation. After pulling Bobrovsky to gain a 6-on-5 advantage, Sam Bennett lifted a shot over Woll and into the net to make it 5-4 with just 1:55 remaining on the clock.

From there, the Panthers kept their foot on the gas but couldn’t find the game-tying goal before the final horn.

Next up: Game 2.

"We know it's second round of the playoffs,” Barkov said. “There's no surprises here. Everyone is going to play as hard as possible. They came out a little better than us, got the lead they needed. We did some good things during the game, and we’ll learn from those.”

THEY SAID IT

“Just our effort, how much we wanted to score, how much we wanted to be in their zone. Obviously, they’re going to defend their lead, so it will look like that. Overall, I think our effort in the third period was really good.” – Aleksander Barkov

“They way we played in the third is more like our game, just fast and more physical. Obviously, we want to bring that to the next game.” – Eetu Luostarinen

CATS STATS

- The Panthers have six goals from defensemen this postseason.

- Brad Marchand recorded two assists.

- The Panthers allowed just seven shots on goal over five penalty kills.

- Anton Lundell went 11-for-17 (64.7%) in the faceoff circle.

- Sam Bennett recorded a team-high seven shots on goal.

- Every Panthers defenseman recorded multiple hits.

- Carter Verhaeghe logged a team-high seven hits.

WHAT’S NEXT?

There’s a reason these series are seven games.

With a chance to bounce back, the Panthers will battle the Maple Leafs in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.

To find a place to watch the game in South Florida, click HERE.