Game 2: Panthers Lose to Leafs, Coming Home in a Hole

The Florida Panthers played a full game on Wednesday night, but they are still coming home in an 0-2 hole after losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.

Florida tied the score at 3 in the third, but 17 seconds later, Mitch Marner gave Toronto the lead back and Joseph Woll held on for a 4-3 win in Game 2 of the second round playoff series.

Toronto leads the best-of-7 series 2-0 with Game 3 in Sunrise on Friday night.

Florida got its first lead of the series midway through the first period when Sasha Barkov scored 5 seconds into the team’s first power play of the night.

The Panthers led again at 2-1 when Brad Marchand scored 15 seconds into the second, but the Leafs scored twice in the period to take a 3-2 lead into the third.

Anton Lundell scored a net-front goal off a feed from Aaron Ekblad at 5:33 of the third, but Marner gave Toronto the lead back on a saucer shot toward the net that hit the cage and went in.

Woll made 26 saves in place of Anthony Stolarz; Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 in the loss.

The Panthers have not been down 0-2 in a series since the 2023 Stanley Cup Final they lost in 5 to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Panthers have never won a playoff series being down 2-0.

Last season, the Panthers split the first two in New York before losing Game 3 at home to go down 2-1. Florida rallied to win the Eastern Conference title in 6 games.

GAME 2: PANTHERS @ LEAFS

• Of Woll’s five career playoff starts, three have come against the Panthers — the last of which came in Game 5 of the 2023 second round won in OT by the Panthers. This season, Woll and Stolarz became the first goalie tandem in Leafs history to win 20 games each.
• Florida has killed off seven of eight power plays in the two games thus far.
• The Panthers came into Wednesday trailing in a playoff series for the first time since it was down 2-1 to the Rangers in the 2024 ECF.
• Barkov tied Ray Sheppard and Dave Lowry for the fourth most playoff power-play goals in franchise history with four each. Lowry’s son, Adam, plays for the Winnipeg Jets.
• Nylander scored his sixth goal of the postseason – the most in a playoff year by a Maple Leafs player since Joe Nieuwendyk (six in 2004).

PANTHERS / LEAFS SCORING

• Panthers 1, Leafs 0 (10:58 1st PP): Sasha Barkov wins the faceoff, gets the puck to Seth Jones who feeds it back to Barkov for a wrister under the glove of Joseph Woll.
• Leafs 1, Panthers 1 (18:19 1st PP): The Leafs score on their eighth power-play chance of the series, Max Pacioretty deflecting a shot from Morgan Reilly past Sergei Bobrovsky.
• Panthers 2, Leafs 1 (0:15 2nd): Eetu Luostarinen forces a turnover in the offensive zone, gets the puck to Anton Lundell who leaves it for Brad Marchand in the slot for the backhander.
• Leafs 2, Panthers 2: Pacioretty and William Nylander get loose on the 2-on-1, Nylander finishing it off the cross-ice pass.
• Leafs 3, Panthers 2 (17:09 2nd): The Panthers cough up the puck at the neutral zone and Steven Lorentz feeds Max Domi on the 2-on-1.
• Panthers 3, Leafs 3 (5:33 3rd): Aaron Ekblad fires toward the front of the net from the halfwall to Lundell, who pulls the puck off his skate and puts it through.
• Leafs 4, Panthers 3 (5:50 3rd): Just 17 seconds later, Mitch Marner floats a point shot through traffic that finds its way past Bobrovsky. That turned out to be the winner.

FHN’S 3 STARS OF GAME 2

• 1. Joseph Woll, Toronto
• 2. Mitch Marner, Toronto
• 3. Anton Lundell, Florida

2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: GAME 3

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS 

Toronto Leads Best-of-7 Series 2-0

• When: Friday, 7 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: Friday @Florida, 7 (TNT/truTV); 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)