Panthers look to build off strong overtime win in Game 3
SUNRISE, Fla. – A chance to wipe the slate clean.
Trailing 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Second Round, the Florida Panthers will try to even their series with the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 4 at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday.
“We feel we’re still building to our game, a level of consistency with the style of play,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the heated series. “We think we got closer to it in Game 3.”
After dropping the first two games of the series on the road in Toronto, the Panthers returned home and put on a show for their own fans in a 5-4 overtime win on Friday.
Trailing 3-1 in the second period and facing the prospect of falling into a daunting 3-0 hole in the series, the defending Stanley Cup champions mounted an epic comeback to breathe life back into the building.
Just 1:04 after Sam Reinhart scored to cut the deficit to 3-2, Carter Verhaeghe took a centering feed from Sam Bennett and fired a shot past Joseph Woll to even the score and make it 3-3.
Closing out the middle frame, Jonah Gadjovich put the Panthers up 4-3.
Overall, the Panthers finished with a 11-3 advantage in scoring chances over the Maple Leafs in the second period, arguably their best looking 20 minutes of the entire series.
“I liked our fight,” forward Evan Rodrigues said of the period. “We go down two [goals] on two different occasions, and we didn’t give up. We stuck to our game. We got pucks deep, and we got on it. We didn’t have as much pressure on their D on our forecheck in the first two games as we would’ve liked. I thought we just got back to that in the second period.”
Unable to hold on in regulation thanks to an unlucky bounce, the Panthers saw their lead slip away midway through the third period when a shot from Morgan Rielly went off a defender and in to make a 4-4 game.
A night of oddities, four goals were scored off bounces like that between both clubs.
With the action eventually getting to overtime, Brad Marchand, who is celebrating his 37th birthday today, played the role of hero for the Panthers when he fired a shot from the top of the left circle that clipped off Rielly and into the cage to lock down the 5-4 win for Forida.
No stranger to big moments, it was Marchand’s fourth career overtime goal in the playoffs.
“We just competed the way that we know that we can,” said Marchand, who’s found the back of the net in each of the last two games and is riding a five-game point streak. “It feels good, but it’s all about doing it again the next game. They’re going to come out hard.”
Sailing out of uncharted waters, the Panthers can now draw on a recent experience.
Just last year, they trailed the New York Rangers 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Final.
After winning Game 4 of that series, they went on to advance in six games.
“Experience is always nice, especially when it works out in your favor, but each series presents different challenges and different stuff throughout,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “It just feels different this time around. Being down 2-0, coming back home and getting that much needed Game 3 win. Using our home crowd to our advantage, which was huge for us like it was for Toronto in Games 1 and 2, hopefully we can keep that momentum going.”
For the Maple Leafs, offense hasn’t been the issue.
Over the first three games of the series, they’ve combined to score 13 goals.
William Nylander leads the team in scoring with six points (three goals, three assists) in the series, but 11 different skaters have already recorded multiple points over the three games.
But as the series rolls on, the hope is the Panthers continue to wear them down.
Through the first three games, Florida leads 152-108 in hits.
“I don’t know if we’re wearing them down or anything like that,” Tkachuk said. “We play a certain style that’s hard to play and hard to play against. It’s no secret we try to put everything in and try to be physical. … Over the course of a series if you continue to do that shift after shift, it’s human nature you’re going to wear down. We just have to keep up with it. They’re doing a good job as well. It’s just playoff hockey, at the end of the day.”
Between the pipes, both goaltenders are also hoping for their first chance to steal a game.
As it stands, Bobrovsky boats a .840 save percentage in the series, while Woll sits at .869.
Still, both netminders have made game-saving saves at one point or another in the series.
A pivotal moment in the series, the odds will shift significantly if the Panthers win Game 4.
Historically, teams that trail 2-1 have gone on to win the series 31% of the time.
With series that that are tied 2-2, the all-time record is an even 299-299.
For Game 4, getting the series back to a 50-50 split is the goal tonight.
THEY SAID IT
“I think anybody predicted he’d score a game-winner for us a couple months ago, but it’s been an amazing ride. We’re really happy to have him.” — A.J. Greer on Brad Marchand
“You’re made to feel like you’re an important part of it. The guys we took out were the first guys you see off the ice — in their suits, all high-fiving and excited. I don’t feel that’s a playoff thing. I feel that’s part of who these guys are and how they treat each other.” — Paul Maurice on the culture of surrounding Florida’s depth players
“They work so hard out there; they turned the tide for our team tonight. They were heavy on pucks, played in the [offensive] zone, and were forechecking. They’re all great players. We are such a deep team that we are fortunate that those guys can come in and make a huge impact in a playoff game.” — Carter Verhaeghe on the performance of the fourth line in Game 3
“Momentum swings all the time. It’s something as simple as moving through the neutral zone and not making an extra play. Controlling that flow of the game is something we focus on as a team.” — Aaron Ekblad on managing momentum swings in the playoffs
FIVE CATS STATS
– Brad Marchand is on a five-game point streak.
– Eetu Luostarinen has recorded 13 hits over his last two games.
– Carter Verhaeghe has four points (1G, 3A) in this series.
– Florida is 4-0 when leading after two periods in this year’s playoffs.
– The Panthers earned a 60.34% share of expected goals in Game 3.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt – Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
– April 25: F Jesse Puljujarvi assigned to Charlotte (AHL)
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Sunday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
TV & Streaming: TNT, truTV, Max, SN, CBC, TVAS
Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 92.1 WZZR-FM (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); Panthers App; SiriusXM Channel 91 / App & Streaming 931
Tickets: Click Here
