Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots for his fifth whiten of playoffs of his career, while Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett scored and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 on Sunday night in game 4 to the semifinal series of the East Conference.
Verhaeghe scored in a power play in the first period, Bennett added the insurance score with 7:50 remaining in the game and Bobrovsky made the rest. He is the first goalkeeper with two bleached this year in the playoffs.
Joseph Woll stopped 35 shots for the Maple Leafs, who took an advantage of the 2-0 series with a couple of victories at home and now returned to Toronto for game 5 on Wednesday night with the tied series.
Verhaeghe’s goal occurred in the fourth Florida power game of the first period. Matthew Tkachuk, along the leftist boards, threaded a pass through the slot and passed two defenders on the waiting lever of Verhaeghe, who hit a timurse beyond Woll.
It was part of an early shots sprout for Florida. The Panthers took 21 of the first 26 shots of the game on the network, simply controlling the game for long periods and maintaining all the action against Woll. He remained firm, again and again, keeping Toronto in him.
At the end of the third period, Bennett said enough.
He entered Woll’s left, with Verhaeghe on the other side of the slot, then waited for a pass lane. When none appeared, Bennett simply went in front of the network, saw Woll commit and then pushed the album to the network before hitting the air.
At a time when many Canadians choose not to travel to the US. Due to a commercial war launched by President Donald Trump, some Leafs fans are leaving the policy aside to encourage their team. Greg Ross de CBC met some who made the trip.
Florida has won 25 consecutive playoff games, which dates back to May 5, 2022, when he led after two periods, matching Edmonton for the largest number of victories in the NHL during that period. The oilers have 25-3 when they lead after two from that date.
The defense of the Leafs, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, part of the Florida team that won the Stanley Cup last season, delivered a shot to the head of the head and neck of the Panthers striker, Evan Rodrigues, about five minutes in the third period. It was originally called, then a minor was reduced after the review.
The Maple Leafs not only killed the penalty, but even had the best opportunity of those two minutes when Matthew Knies skated in a short hand attempt. The network was lost.
That could have been the last great opportunity for Toronto.
