TIED UP: Florida Panthers Even Series, Dominate Leafs in Game 4

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers completely dominated the Toronto Maple Leafs everywhere but the scoreboard in Game 4 of their second round series on Sunday night.

And that ended up being OK.

Thanks to 19 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky, as well as goals from Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett, the Panthers evened the best-of-7 series with a 2-0 win over the Maple Leafs.

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Toronto; the home teams are 2-0 thus far.

It is now a best-of-3 series, with two games in Toronto.

Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead on their fourth power play chance of the first period, one-timing a sharp feed from Matthew Tkachuk.

Until Bennett scored with 7:50 remaining, that was it.

The game ended with a melee following Max Domi charging Sasha Barkov.

Florida also played much of the third without Evan Rodrigues who hit the ice face-first after being tripping up by Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Ekman-Larsson got a minor for interference, but Rodrigues left the game.

Maurice said he would need to be evaluated.

Game 5 should to be a lot of fun.

GAME 4: MAPLE LEAFS @ PANTHERS

• Verhaeghe scored his fifth career playoff goal against the Maple Leafs, who selected him with the No. 82 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.
• Bobrovsky got his second shutout of the 2025 playoffs, the first goaltender to post multiple shutouts in back-to-back postseasons since Cam Talbot (two each in 2021 and 2020).

LEAFS / PANTHERS SCORING

• Panthers 1, Leafs 0 (15:45 1st PP): Florida cashes in on its fourth power play of the period, Matthew Tkachuk zipping a pass from the halfwall across the ice to a waiting Carter Verhaeghe who one-times it through.
• Panthers 2, Leafs 0 (12:10 3rd): Sam Bennett snared a loose puck in the neutral zone, came hard toward the net and froze Joseph Woll before putting his wrist shot into what was an empty net.

FHN’S 3 STARS OF GAME 4

• 1. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida
• 2. Sam Bennett, Florida
• 3. Joseph Woll, Toronto

2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: GAME 4

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS 

Best-of-7 series tied 2-2

• When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto
• National TV: ESPN
• 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; Game 5: Wednesday @Toronto, 7 (ESPN); Game 6: Friday @Florida TBA (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
• This Regular Season: Panthers Won 3-1; Last Regular Season: Tied 2-2
• All-time Regular Season Series: Toronto leads 51-40-7, 7 ties
• All-time Postseason: Panthers d. Toronto 4-1 (2023 ECS)