Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena — Courtesy: Shutterstock — YES Market Media
Sunrise, Florida – The Florida Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round on Sunday at Amerant Bank Arena thanks to 23 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.
Florida tied the best-of-seven series 2-2 after winning both of their home games. On Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET, Game 5 will take place at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN).
Bobrovsky stated, “It’s a series, and the bigger games are ahead.” “We’re thrilled that the series will now be a best-of-three. The next game is therefore very important.
The Panthers, the third seed in the Atlantic Division, had goals from Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett.
Paul Maurice, the coach of Florida, stated, “We’re mindful that it is one game.” “When the puck drops in the next game, I don’t think momentum exists. We will have to put in a lot of effort to return to the game that our squad played rather well.”
For the Maple Leafs, the Atlantic’s top seed, Joseph Woll recorded 35 saves.
In reference to Woll, Toronto coach Craig Berube remarked, “He was great, played an excellent game.” “He played a significant role in the score being just 1-0 (at the start of the third).” Ultimately, I thought our competitiveness and physicality were great. The guys are having a great time. It’s a challenging series. They make an excellent team.
At 15:45 of the first period, Verhaeghe scored a power-play goal to give Florida a 1-0 lead. After a fast cross-ice pass from Matthew Tkachuk, who was along the left boards, he scored with a one-timer from below the right circle.
On Florida’s fourth power play of the first period, Verhaeghe scored.
Verhaeghe remarked, “Anytime we get the early lead, I mean, we had some pretty poor starts in this series.” We wanted to improve in that one area, and having the early advantage was undoubtedly helpful. We persevered and performed admirably.
Despite outscoring the Maple Leafs 29–12 in the first two periods, the Panthers were unable to get any breathing room until Bennett made it 2-0 at 12:09 in the third. Bennett skated in on a partial 2-on-1 after a neutral zone turnover, waited out Woll as he cut toward the slot, and then shot into an open net.
Bennett remarked, “I was taking it down, looking at all my options.” “I was planning to shoot after passing first, but neither of those options worked out. I managed to hold onto it and insert it.
Florida kept Toronto to just four shots on goal for the remainder of the game after Bennett’s goal.
Bennett remarked, “That was more like the Panthers playoff hockey that we’re used to.” “There were fewer opportunities and the game was closer. There were very few odd-man rushes that we gave up. We were successful in reducing their opportunities. Overall, the game was good.
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Born and raised in South Florida, Krystal is a recent graduate from the University of Miami with professional writing experience at the collegiate and national news outlet levels. She’s a foodie who loves all things travel, the beach, & visiting new places throughout Florida.