Rodrigues out with an injury, so Boqvist re-enters lineup for Panthers
TORONTO – It’s time to make a move.
With an opportunity to gain a leg up in the Eastern Conference Second Round, the Florida Panthers will visit the Toronto Maple Leafs for Game 5 at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.
After dropping the first two games of the series at Toronto, the Panthers returned home to win Games 3 and 4 and set the stage for a brand new best-of-three showdown.
In the history of the NHL, teams that go up 3-2 in a series go on to advance 79% of the time.
“We’re a confident group,” forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “We know what the Leafs bring. They’re a really, really good team. They have a lot of depth, a lot of weapons. It’s up to us to stick with our game plan, not get too high or too low. There’s lots of bounces every game.”
Heading north on a high note, the Panthers shut it down in a 2-0 win in Game 4 on Sunday.
After Verhaeghe broke the ice with a goal on the power play to make it 1-0 late in the first period, the Panthers held on to that one-goal cushion until miday through the third period when Sam Bennett made it 2-0 with a nifty pump-and-score move.
Named the first star of the game, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 23 shots he faced.
Playing well in front of their future Hall of Fame goaltender, the Panthers controlled the flow of play for much of the night, finishing with a 26-13 advantage in scoring chances at 5-on-5. Strong on special teams again, the Panthers also went a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Most importantly, they had a good start.
In addition to leading 1-0 after 20 minutes, the Panthers also outshot the Maple Leafs 15-4.
“Getting the lead is huge,” Verhaeghe said. “The last few games, they got off to a really good start and their push was in the first 10 minutes. It kind of surprised us a little bit. We weren’t ready to play. We know what’s going to happen tonight. They’re going to have the same push. It’s going to be up to us to stay with it, weather the storm and get back to our game.”
To date, no team has spread out the offense as much as Florida in this year’s playoffs.
Showing off their depth, eight different players have already recorded eight points for the Panthers, while no other team in the playoffs has more than five players with eight points.
All eight of those players have scored at least two goals, including a team-high five from Bennett.
“That’s our strength, for sure,” captain Aleksander Barkov said. “We have a deep team. We have great players. Every player is a good player. It doesn’t matter who’s on the ice, we can get the job done. Every single guy needs to bring their best tonight.”
That depth will be particularly important in Game 5 as the Panthers will take the ice without Evan Rodrigues, who left in the third period of Game 4 with an injury and did not return.
Rodrigues suffered the injury – which is currently undisclosed – on his second shift of the third period on a penalized hit from Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
As of right now, Rodrigues is considered day to day.
In his place, the Panthers will turn to Jesper Boqvist, who was skating on the top line during this morning’s rushes. Appearing in seven games in this year’s playoffs, the speedy forward scored a career-high 12 goals during the regular season while playing up and down the lineup.
“A lot of skill, a lot of speed like we’ve seen throughout this whole year,” Barkov said of Boqvist. “Playing against him for years, you see that skill and speed, and now you see it so close. Every practice, every game, he has a lot of skill. Excited to play with him.”
Across the ice, the Maple Leafs will look to reignite their offense after being blanked in Game 4.
William Nylander has been the biggest scoring threat thus far in the series, leading the team in both goals (3) and points (6) against the Panthers. Backing him up, Max Pacioretty has five points, while Morgan Rielly, Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner have all tallied four points.
Yet to find the twine, Auston Matthews hasn’t scored in nine career playoff games against Florida.
Between the pipes, the Maple Leafs are expected to go back to Joseph Woll.
Playing very well in the absence of Anthony Stolarz, Woll stopped 35 of 37 shots to keep Toronto in striking distance in Game 4. Doing a better job of getting to Woll, the Panthers have cashed in on seven of their 30 high-danger shots against the Maple Leafs goaltender.
More than anything, the Panthers have to find a way to win a road game in this series.
In Games 1 and 2, they suffered a pair of one-goal losses.
Since 2023, the Panthers have gone 18-10 away from home in the playoffs.
“That’s the challenge,” Barkov said. “This building is tough to play [in]. We saw in those first two games [at Toronto], they played really well here. Five minutes at a time, a shift at time. We go with the mindset that we have to bring our best. That’s it.”
THEY SAID IT
“Game 4, we liked our defense. Obviously, our penalty was really good. I think special teams plays a big difference in the series. We scored one on the power play, and our penalty kill was really good. We want to keep more of that.” – Carter Verhaeghe on Game 4
“They created their own line. They created their own chemistry with each other. They sat on the bench, and they talked and they had success. It’s not always goal scoring, but they play in the other team’s end.” – Paul Maurice on the fourth line
FIVE CATS STATS
– Sergei Bobrovsky is the only goaltender with multiple shutouts this postseason.
– Sam Reinhart has recorded a team-high 33 shots on goal in this year’s playoffs.
– Brad Marchand has made a dent on the scoresheet in five of his last six games.
– Eetu Luostarinen has racked up 19 hits over his last three games.
– Aleksander Barkov has won a team-high 156 faceoffs in this year’s playoffs.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Jesper Boqvist – 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: Wednesday, May 14 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, ON
TV: ESPN, SN, CBC, TVAS
Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 1 WZZR-FM (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); Panthers App; SiriusXM App & Streaming 931
Watch Party: Baptist Health IcePlex
