Florida Panthers Needed Some Puck Luck. They Got it Friday

SUNRISE — Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube was asked about Brad Marchand’s overtime winner following the Florida Panthers 5-4 win in Game 3 on Friday night.

He may as well have been asked about a couple of the goals in that game.

“It’s a bounce,’’ Berube said. “That’s what happens in overtime sometimes.”

Yes, it does happen.

As a wise baseball manager once said, ‘luck is the residue of design.’

It was never truer than Friday night.

Yes, sometimes you create your own luck.

The Panthers certainly did on Friday night.

That ‘bounce’ ended up helping out the Panthers moreso than it did for the Maple Leafs although both teams benefited from the puck bouncing around off players throughout the game.

The Panthers were victorious, and, perhaps saving their season, when Marchand’s shot deflected off Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly, floated over the head of goalie Joseph Woll, and gave the Panthers a win with 4:33 left in overtime.

Toronto leads the best-of-7 second-round playoff series 2-1, but the Panthers are back in this thing.

After the game, Woll said what most of his mates were thinking.    

“Bounces go both ways,’’ he said. “That’s hockey. You just reset.”

Rielly, who was the victim and beneficiary of three such bounces, took the bad luck side of things in stride.

“It happens. That’s how pucks are going in right now,’’ said Reilly, who had two pucks go off him for Florida goals — but scored one of his own when it went of a couple Florida players to tie things up at 4 in the third.

“It seems not just in this series, but look at last series. Kind of around the playoffs. That’s how it’s going in.”

When a team overcomes a 2-0 deficit, it usually needs a lucky bounce or two.

The first stroke of luck came when Sasha Barkov shoved the puck in the general direction of the goalmouth.

It looked like Barkov was looking to pass as he was being tripped up, only the puck flicked off Rielly and into the goal.

The Panthers, who gave up two quick goals to the Leafs, were back in the game.  

Rielly had a rough night.

Goal No. 2 was even zanier.

Sam Reinhart poked a rebound of an Evan Rodrigues shot under Woll.

Herein is where the human eye failed a lot of people.

Defenseman Brandon Carlo stopped the puck from crossing the line with his stick.

Woll seemingly tucked the puck under him.

Replays from multiple angles showed the same thing.

It took a lengthy situation room review and the inside-the-goal camera to show that the puck bounced back off Woll’s stick which was flat on the ice and microscopically crossed the line.

What apparently was not seen was that Carlo played the puck with a broken stick which would have been a penalty had the goal not counted IF the officials noticed it.

The good bounces continued.

Jonah Gadjovich put the Panthers ahead 4-3 late in the third period when a shot by Tomas Nosek deflected off his leg and got by Woll.

And, lets not forget, John Tavares’ second goal which gave the Leafs a 3-1 lead early in the second went off the glove of Gus Forsling.

As for the hunch, Paul Maurice decided to change out his entire fourth line — sitting Mackie Samoskevich, Nico Sturm, and Jesper Boqvist. 

He replaced them with Nosek and Gadjovich, two players who had not seen playoff action this year, and A.J. Greer who played in only three prior games against the Lightning.

The move paid off, with Gadjovich’s crucial goal coming in his first ever playoff game.

Afterward, Maurice explained his logic for the change to the fourth line.

“They work so hard every single day,’’ Maurice said. “It just felt like we needed a bit of a style change, and they play a different style of game. They’ve been good. They played really well for us in the last month and a half, exceptionally well for us.

“I moved single players in and out but I thought if Tomas was coming in or A.J. was coming in, all three of them needed to come in. There’s something there with the line.”

How will the puck bounce on Sunday in a pivotal Game 4?

Stay tuned.

2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: GAME 4

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS 

Toronto leads best-of-7 series 2-1

• When: Sunday, 7:30 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: Sunday @Florida, 7:30 (TBS/truTV); Game 5: Wednesday May 14 @Toronto TBA (ESPN); Game 6*:Friday May 16 @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)