Depth Charge: Florida Panthers Getting Scoring from All Over

The Florida Panthers have been scoring from all over their lineup this postseason, and their depth is a big reason they now hold a 3-2 series lead on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

On Wednesday night, the Panthers scored six goals from six different players — and only Sam Bennett had scored in these playoffs.

For the first time since the 1993 Los Angeles Kings, a playoff team has goals from 17 different scorers.

Yeah, it’s the Panthers.

Of the 22 skaters on the roster — not counting goalies or Jaycob Megna, who has not played — only Nico Sturm has yet to record a point.

And, of those 22, only five have not put the puck in the net during Florida’s 10 playoff games.

That leaves five players who “are getting chirped pretty hard every day,” Paul Maurice said.

Well, that is probably not the case.

The Panthers are very happy to spread the wealth and to celebrate those who are scoring goals.

Hey, the more, the merrier.

Florida has scored 20 goals against the Maple Leafs with 15 different players scoring those goals. Sam Bennett leads the way with three; Sasha Barkov, Brad Marchand, and Carter Verhaeghe each scoring twice.

Toronto’s scoring has been a little more concentrated.

Nine players have scored Toronto’s 14 goals; William Nylander has three of them.

Florida has five goals from its defensemen; Toronto has two.

There is good reason why the Panthers are playing with confidence: They are all part of the success. 

Verhaeghe has four goals in the playoffs, and is tied for 15th among NHL postseason leaders. Sam Reinhart’s 10 points is tied for 10th.

“Playoff goals, especially, but any time you get a goal makes you feel good,” Maurice said. “When you have a guy who is not scoring, it’s always the same line: ‘I don’t have my confidence.’ As a coach, how do you give a guy confidence? Score harder? How do you do that? The fact that you’re spreading it around, that they’re all carrying a belief into a game … they feel it, feel good about themselves.”

Look no further than what is going on between Florida’s fourth line — and Toronto’s top trio.

The Panthers current fourth line of Jonah Gadjovich, Tomas Nosek, and A.J. Greer has two goals in this series — just one fewer than Toronto’s top line of Auston Matthews (none), Mitch Marner (one), and Matthew Knies (two).

Not bad, especially when you consider Toronto’s top line gets about double the minutes, is on the power play — and Florida’s fourth line did not play the first two games of this series.

“The way we play creates a lot of chaos, creates a lot of turnovers and that gameplan brings an opportunity for every line to be successful offensively,” said Greer, who got his first-ever playoff goal in Wednesday’s 6-1 win. “You don’t have to chase it, you just have to do your job. Once the opportunity comes, you have to finish it off.’’

2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: GAME 6

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS 

Panthers Lead Best-of-7 Series 3-2

• When: Friday, 8 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• National TV: TNT/truTV
• National Streaming: MAX
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Series Schedule — Game 1: @Toronto 5, Florida 4; Game 2: @Toronto 4, Panthers 3; Game 3: @Florida 5, Toronto 4 (OT); Game 4: @Florida 2, Toronto 0; Game 5: Panthers 6, Leafs 1; Game 6: Friday @Florida 8 (TNT/truTV); Game 7*: Sunday May 18 @Toronto TBA (TNT/truTV).
• How They Got Here: Toronto d. Ottawa 4-2; Florida d. Tampa Bay 4-1
• All-time Postseason: Panthers d. Toronto 4-1 (2023 ECS)