Sixty-six seconds.
That was the difference between winning and losing on Thursday night in Toronto.
The Florida Panthers scored twice in the first 66 seconds of the middle frame in Game 2 to erase a 2-1 deficit and give them a 3-2 lead over the Maple Leafs..
“Lots of stuff has been thrown at us this year,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “… It’s playoffs. We knew they were coming hard. We should have come out better than what we did and that’s on us as players, but I think the adjustments we made at the intermission was great and it helps [that in the] first shift [Aleksander] Barkov scores and then we get one the next shift. It’s way easier playing with the lead.”
Alexander Barkov scored 17 seconds into fresh ice in the second period for a 2-2 tie, and Gustav Forsling scored at 1:06 of the period for a 3-2 lead that the Panthers would protect for the next 39 minutes to win Game 2, 3-2.
The victory gives the Panthers a 2-0 lead in the second round series as they head home for Game 3 on Sunday.
“You need your goaltender to win you a series every night, and he did that tonight,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “I don’t think it was easy at the start for him. Certainly the way we played in front of him the first 10 minutes was challenging, and then he built. You get behind the bench some nights and you get a feel for your goaltender where you go, ‘Man he’s just not getting beat again,’ and that’s what he gave our team.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves to continue his hot play since reclaiming the net duties in the previous series.
“He played awesome,” Tkachuk said. “He’s been driving it for us ever since he’s come back in. He deserves it. He works so hard. He’s the hardest worker I’ve seen. He grinds and just continues to work on his game and take care of himself like I’ve never seen somebody do. He’s been the leader for us ever since he’s come back, so we’re lucky to have him.”
The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead in the game in the first period and seemed in control.
“Disappointing. Baffling, quite frankly,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We didn’t even make those mistakes one time in the last series.
“This one is disappointing. We’re rolling early in the game and we just give it back to them. Those are things we haven’t done and frankly just cannot do if you are serious about winning.”
Alexander Kerfoot hit for the game’s first goal at 2:20 of the first period.
Ryan O’Reilly extended the advantage to 2-0 at 5:10.
“I think we’re all disappointed,” O’Reilly said. “Being down 2-0 is not what we want, but it’s a long series. There’s a lot of hockey left. We have to continue building our game and not worry.
“We have to self-reflect. We need to be better in certain areas. Win the next game and build from there.”
The Panthers trimmed the deficit to 2-1 at 11:13 of the first off a strike by Anton Lundell headed to the second period.
“We didn’t start well that game, they came really hard on us,” said Barkov. “They played the right way, put a lot of pucks to the net, got a couple of power plays and scored a couple of goals. Lundell’s line, that was huge for us. Get us back in the game, scored one and all of a sudden it’s a one-goal game.”
Lundell received a behind the back pass from Sam Reinhart below the goal before flipping it home.
The Lundell goal was huge in this game because at that point, you’re going, ‘This could be 12-0, they’re on us,'” Maurice said. “That goal was big, and then a real strong push in that middle part and we just settled.”
Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves in the Leafs loss.
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