SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett scored and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 on Sunday night in Game 4 to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Verhaeghe scored on a power play in the first period, Bennett added the insurance score with 7:50 left and Bobrovsky did the rest. He’s the first goalie with two shutouts this year in the playoffs.
Joseph Woll stopped 35 shots for the Maple Leafs, who took a 2-0 series lead with a pair of home wins and now return there for Game 5 on Wednesday night with the series tied.
Verhaeghe’s goal came on Florida’s fourth power play of the first period. Matthew Tkachuk, along the left-wing boards, threaded a pass through the slot and past two defenders onto the waiting stick of Verhaeghe — who slammed a one-timer past Woll.
It was part of a spree of shots early for Florida. The Panthers took 21 of the game’s first 26 shots on net, simply controlling play for long stretches and keeping all the action in front of Woll. He held firm, time and again, keeping Toronto in it.
Bennett said enough.
He came in from Woll’s left, with Verhaeghe on the other side of the slot, then waited for a passing lane. When none appeared, Bennett simply went to the front of the net, watched Woll commit, then pushed the puck into the net before punching the air.
Florida has won 25 consecutive playoff games — going back to May 5, 2022 — when leading after two periods, matched Edmonton for the most wins in the NHL over that span. The Oilers are 25-3 when leading after two since that date.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson — part of the Florida team that won the Stanley Cup last season — delivered a shot to the head and neck area of Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues about five minutes into in the third period. It was originally called a major, then downgraded to a minor after review.
The Maple Leafs not only killed the penalty off but they even had the best chance of those two minutes when Matthew Knies skated in on a short-handed try. He missed the net.
That might have been the last great chance for Toronto.