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Sam Bennett had a goal and an assist, Nick
Cousins, Carter Verhaeghe and Brandon Montour also scored and
Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves for Florida, which upset the
Boston Bruins in the first round by winning the final three
games.
Tkachuk's assist total tied the franchise record for a single
postseason game, a mark set by Verhaeghe on April 26.
Matthew Knies and Michael Bunting scored and Ilya Samsonov made
24 saves for the Maple Leafs, who reached the second round for
the first time since 2004 by getting past the Tampa Bay
Lightning in six games.
Game 2 is Thursday night in Toronto.
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead at 9:25 of the first period when
Cousins fought off Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe for a rebound
and scored with a backhand.
Florida moved ahead 2-0 at 7:58 of the second period. Aaron
Ekblad took a point shot that went off the stick of Knies and
then was tipped into the net by Bennett.
The Maple Leafs answered 11 seconds later when Knies scored his
first NHL goal in his ninth game (regular season and
postseason).
Knies took a centering pass off the wall from Auston Matthews.
His initial shot was saved, but he followed up with a spinning
backhand that hit the net to make it 2-1 at 8:09.
Matthews extended his point streak to seven games (five goals,
five assists), and Morgan Rielly also assisted on the goal to
extend his point streak to six games (three goals, six assists).
The Maple Leafs tied it 2-2 at 14:51 of the second. Calle
Jarnkrok fed Bunting driving through the slot, and Bunting faked
out Bobrovsky before lifting the puck into the net.
Verhaeghe got loose on a breakaway and scored to make it 3-2 at
17:47 of the second. It was his 11th playoff goal with the
Panthers, setting a team record.
Montour scored his sixth goal of the 2023 playoffs with a slap
shot during a delayed penalty to extend the lead to 4-2 at 12:24
of the third period.
Bennett was called for a double-minor high-sticking penalty with
37 seconds left and the Maple Leafs pulled Samsonov for a
two-man advantage, but they were unable to generate a scoring
chance.
Florida had lost eight consecutive Game 1s.
--Field Level Media
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