Brad Marchand scored with 4:33 left in overtime as the host Florida Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Friday night in Sunrise.
It was Marchand’s fourth career overtime goal in the playoffs, after the puck bounced in off the body of Toronto’s Morgan Rielly. That number is the fourth-most among active players, trailing only Corey Perry, Patrick Kane and teammate Carter Verhaeghe (five apiece).
The Leafs lead the second-round playoff series 2-1. Game 4 is set for Sunday night in Sunrise.
Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe and Jonah Gadjovich also scored for the Panthers, who are the reigning Stanley Cup champions.
Evan Rodrigues added two assists from the Panthers, who got 27 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.
John Tavares scored twice, and Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly had one goal each for the Leafs, who blew a 3-1 second-period lead. Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews and William Nylander each had two assists for the Leafs, who also got 31 saves from Joseph Woll.
Toronto scored just 23 seconds into the game. Marner’s shot clanged off the crossbar, and Knies spun away from Panthers defenseman Aaron Eblad before hitting the open left side of the net.
The Leafs made it 2-0 on Tavares’ wrap-around goal with 14:03 left in the first.
Florida got on the board on an own-goal with 12:22 remaining in the first. Reinhart dished to Barkov, who made a move and lost his edge as he drove to the net. The puck then tipped in off the stick of Rielly.
Toronto got its power play going with 17:08 left in the second. Marner’s shot found Tavares’ stick, and that deflection bounced in off the body of Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling.
But the Panthers scored two goals in the next three minutes, tying the score 3-3.
First, Reinhart scored on a scramble in front despite the efforts of Leafs defenseman Brandon Carlo, who had half a stick and still tried to keep the puck from trickling past the line.
Then, Matthew Tkachuk jarred the puck loose on a forecheck. Sam Bennett then threaded a backward pass between sliding defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larrson and Woll. Verhaeghe had the easy job, tapping the puck into the open net.
Gadjovich, off the rush, then gave Florida a 4-3 lead with a tip-in shot with 4:53 left in the second.
Toronto tied the score 4-4 with 9:04 left in the third. Rielly’s shot from the right wing was stopped by Bobrovsky, but the puck bounced in off the right leg of Panthers defenseman Seth Jones.
–Field Level Media
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