Joseph Woll Turns Back Panthers, Maple Leafs Come South Up 2-0

Joseph Woll played pretty well the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs played the Florida Panthers in the playoffs.

It should have been no surprise that he would turn in a good performance Wednesday night.

And, he did.

Woll, filling in for the injured Anthony Stolarz, made 25 saves — including 10 in the third period — to help lead the Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win over the Panthers in Game 2 of their second round playoff series.

Toronto won both home games of the series, and lead the best-of-7 set 2-0.

Game 3 is Friday night in Sunrise.

“I’m just trying to do what I have done all season, not change much,’’ said Woll, who went 27-14-1 for the Leafs during the regular season. “I wanted to stay in the moment, focus on my job and try to block everything else out.’’

The Panthers played a much better game Wednesday than they opened with in Monday’s 5-4 loss. Florida found itself down 4-1 in the third before mounting a comeback.

Wednesday, after scoring three on Woll in the third two nights prior, could not find the equalizer after Mitch Marner gave Toronto a 4-3 lead just 17 seconds after Anton Lundell tied it at 5:33 of the third.

“We didn’t love our Game 1,’’ Paul Maurice said, “but we liked our game tonight. We came out on the road, lost two games. But we get to go back home now. There is lots of stuff we like about our game that we think we can improve on and do more with. We will take a look at it and get better.”

Unlike Monday, the Panthers had the lead twice on Wednesday: Sasha Barkov made it 1-0 midway through the first on the power play; Brad Marchand opened the second with a goal to make it 2-1.

Toronto always had an answer for the Panthers.

“We’re just trying to keep our calmness,” Marner said. “It’s going to be a roller-coaster ride throughout every game. There’s going to be different ups-and-downs … we’re playing one heck of a hockey team over there, and you know they’re going to come with everything especially when they’re down goals.’’

The old adage is, a series doesn’t get interesting until the home team loses a game.

So, this is just a normal type of deal, right?

We’ll see.

The Panthers have been good at home this season and now, for the first postseason in a while, have their backs against the wall.

In 2023, the Panthers trailed Boston 3-1 before rallying for a Game 7 win.

The Panthers also trailed New York 2-1 last year before beating the Rangers in 6 en route to the Stanley Cup championship.

Florida has never come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a playoff series, including the 2023 Stanley Cup Final in which the Panthers were outclassed in Las Vegas from the start, coming back down 0-2 after being outscored 12-4.

This was not that.

The Panthers came within centimeters of tying up both Games 1 and 2 late.

They are not that far off.

Who knows what home will bring.

“That’s the mentality: Get home, get our crowd behind us, and put together a good game,’’ Aaron Ekblad said.

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)