*Photo from the Hockey Writers*
Florida wins series 4-1
One of the surprise teams in the playoffs is moving on again. Aaron Ekblad had a goal and an assist, Nick Cousins scored the winner, and the Florida Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime on Friday night in Toronto.
The win secures another series win for the Panthers, advancing them to the 3rd round, one step away from the Stanley Cup Final. Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe each had a goal and an assist to lead the Panthers on the scoresheet, while Cousins scored the biggest goal of the game.
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said that "I got to watch a bunch of guys that you care about a lot, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. Just to walk into the room after, it's pure joy in there. It's fun to watch guys who work really hard, compete and battle, and by no means was any of this easy. That's a good team we beat. It's fun to be associated with our players, they're fun, they come to the rink, they work their butts off and we laugh."
Starting the scoring was Ekblad. He scored 3:31 into the game to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead, scoring his first goal of the playoffs with Verhaeghe and Gustav Forsling assisting. Verhaeghe then scored at the 16:18 mark of the period, doubling the lead to 2-0 on his 5th goal of the playoffs, assisted by Ekblad and Anthony Duclair.
Morgan Rielly had the only goal of the second period, getting the Maple Leafs on the board and cutting the deficit to 2-1. The only goal of the 3rd period came from William Nylander, tying the game 2-2 and forcing overtime. Cousins then played hero for the Panthers, scoring 15:32 into overtime to secure the series win.
Cousins talked about his goal, saying "It's one of those moments where you'll grow up and tell your kids about. My daughter is only 11 months, so it's something I've got to tell her when she grows up. Big goal, big moment for our team. Really special, really special."
It was Sergei Bobrovsky who got the start for the Panthers, picking up another win as the Panthers secured the series win. Bobrovsky made a whopping 50 saves on 52 shots from Toronto, giving him a .962 save percentage.
Getting the start for the Maple Leafs was Joseph Woll once again with Ilya Samsonov out. Woll got stuck with the loss, turning aside 40 out of the 43 shots on goal that the Panthers had, posting a .930 save percentage.
Toronto forward Auston Matthews said of the loss that "It's real tough. I just look around the room, every guy battles for each other, works for each other. This is as tight of a group that I played on in my seven years, and I think we've played with some really great people, some really great teammates, and we've had some of the tight groups."
Up next, the Panthers advance to take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the eastern conference final, with game one in Raleigh. The Maple Leafs have another long offseason ahead of them with pivotal decisions to make.
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