RECAP: Panthers 2, Maple Leafs 0

SUNRISE, Fla. – It’s now a best-of-three series.

Pulling even in the Eastern Conference Second Round, the Florida Panthers produced a stalwart defensive effort in a 2-0 win in Game 4 over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday.

After dropping the first two games of the series in Toronto, the Panthers returned home to win both Games 3 and 4 at Amerant Bank Arena to bring the hard-fought series to 2-2.

Down but never out, these Cats are just getting started.

“That was more like the Panthers playoff hockey that we’re used to,” forward Sam Bennett said. “A tighter game, less opportunities. We didn’t give up many odd-mans at all. We did a pretty good job of limiting their chances, and Bobby (Sergei Bobrovsky) stood on his head.”

Peppering the opposing net early, the Panthers nearly broke the ice on their second power play of the first period, but were denied by an outstanding left-pad save from Joseph Woll.

Responding with his own big save, Bobrovsky ushered in the “Bob-by!” chants soon after when he robbed Auston Matthews on a point-blank shot with his glove.

Earning his fifth career shutout in the playoffs, Bobrovsky finished with 23 saves.

“You just totally take him for granted, which happens to all elite goaltenders,” head coach Paul Maurices said of the future Hall of Fame goaltender.

With the Maple Leafs getting into even more penalty trouble, the Panthers finally made them pay on the power play when Carter Verhaeghe took a laser of a pass from Matthew Tkachuk and one-timed it past Woll from the right side of the net to make it 1-0 at 15:45.

Increasing his own franchise record, it was Verhaeghe’s 30^th career playoff goal.

After trailing for much of the series, gaining an early lead brought a sigh of relief to all of South Florida.

“We’ve had some pretty poor starts in this series, and that was one thing we wanted to get better at,” Verhaeghe said. “I think getting the early goal definitely helped.”

In the second period, the whistles went the way of Toronto.

But even with the Maple Leafs taking three trips to the man advantage, the Panthers stood tall.

Over the course of that time on the penalty kill, Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling did a lot of heavy lifting on the back end as each logged at least three minutes of shorthanded ice time.

On one particular penalty kill, both defensemen were deployed the entire two minutes.

In addition to their work on the penalty kill, the Panthers made several strong defensive plays to keep the Maple Leafs off the board, with Bobrovsky making eight saves in the period.

The most-dangerous moment of the period came when William Nylander, who leads the Maple Leafs with six goals in the playoffs, found himself flying down the ice on the breakaway only to be caught by Forsling and then stopped by Bobrovsky on his shot.

“He’s such a powerful skater,” Maurice said of Forsling, who regularly wins the team’s fittest player award at training camp. “He’s earned a big tank on him. He can handle big minutes, and also pretty impressive bursts when he means to. He’s earned that.”

Keeping the Maple Leafs in the fight, Woll had 18 saves through two periods.

Less than four minutes into the third period, Bobrovsky joined Woll in the incredible save department when he stopped Matthew Knies on a golden opportunity off his backhand.

On a shorthanded breakaway later, Knies sailed his second attempt.

Delivering the dagger for the Panthers, Ekblad jumped up at the blue line to force a turnover and send play the other way. Grabbing the puck, Bennett skated in a on 2-on-1 rush, cut to the net and waited patiently before beating a sprawled-out Woll to make it 2-0 at 12:09.

On fire since Round 1, Bennett leads Florida with five goals this postseason.

From there, the Panthers continued to do what they do best and shut things down.

In a moment reminiscent of the final seconds of Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final, the defending champs gave fans a little bit of deja vu when they killed off crucial time for Toronto by pinning the puck along the boards in their own zone.

Prior to the final horn sounding, Maple Leafs forward Max Domi took out his frustrations by laying a hit from behind on Aleksander Barkov, sending him head-first into the boards.

After the game, Maurice said the Panthers captain should be OK.

As for any possible supplemental discipline for the dangerous hit, that wouldn’t come until Monday.

"I think that the league looks at those things very close, especially at that point in the game,” Maurice said of the incident, which Domi received a boarding penalty for. “That's their job."

Regardless, the Panthers accomplished what they wanted to.

They’re heading back to Canada with two wins and an even series.

“We played really good defense,” Verhaeghe said of the team’s showing in Game 4. “We had good sticks. I liked our game. It was a tight game all the way through. They’re a good team. They had some chances, but obviously we’ll take the win and go to Toronto.”

THEY SAID IT

“I sprinted all I could and just tried to force him on his back. Me and Bob (Sergei Bobrovsky) played that well.” – Gustav Forsling on breaking up Willam Nylander’s breakaway

“We’re going to Toronto with some confidence. We like taking care of home ice. Playing in front of our fans was awesome.” – Carter Verhaeghe on winning Games 3 and 4

"There's words I can't really use to describe that, but it was awfully exciting." – Nate Schmidt on Gustav Forsling breaking up William Nylander’s breakaway

CATS STATS

- Carter Verhaeghe scored his fifth career playoff goal against the Maple Leafs.

- Since 2023, the Panthers are 24-0 when leading after two periods in the playoffs.

- Sam Reinhart recorded a team-high seven shots.

- Sam Benett registered a team-high eight hits.

- Aaron Ekblad saw a team-high 25:28 of ice time.

- The Panthers led 26-13 in scoring chances at 5-on-5.

- Sergei Bobrovsky made seven high-danger saves, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT’S NEXT?

We’re heading back across the border.

Trying to break the tie and gain an edge in the Eastern Conference Second Round, the Panthers will battle the Maple Leafs in Game 5 at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

The official watch party will be at Baptist Health IcePlex.

For information, click HERE.