The 19,842 fans who packed Amerant Bank Arena were a lot happier with the way Game 3 of the Florida Panthers ' Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs ended than the way it started.
Brad Marchand scored at 15:27 of overtime to give the Panthers a 5-4 victory on Friday night in a game they had to have after losing the first two in Toronto. Instead of facing a win-or-go-home scenario in Game 4 on Sunday, the defending Stanley Cup champs will have the chance to send the series back to Scotiabank Arena even at 2-2.
Marchand's goal was the second of the night to go past goaltender Joseph Woll after hitting Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly . His shot from the top of the left circle hit Rielly as he was battling for position in front of the net with Florida forward Anton Lundell .
Perhaps that was poetic justice – Rielly had scored the tying goal at 10:56 of the third period on a shot that was stopped by Sergei Bobrovsky but hit Florida defenseman Seth Jones and deflected into the net.
Longtime NHL coach Mike Babcock used to harp on "starting on time" – meaning that he wanted his teams ready to go from the opening face-off. Suffice it to say that the Panthers' didn't come close to being ready when the game began, and they found themselves down 2-0 before the first media timeout. Matt Knies scored the fastest goal from the start of a playoff game by a Maple Leaf in 63 years when he beat Bobrovsky 17 seconds after puck drop, and John Tavares gave Toronto a 2-0 lead at 5:57.
Florida got one back on Aleksander Barkov 's goal at 7:38, but Tavares' power-play deflection 2:52 into the second period made it 3-1. However, goals by Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe in a 64-second span tied the game 3-3, and Johan Gadjovich's goal with 4:53 left in the period put Florida ahead for the first time.
The Panthers' 4-3 lead looked like it might hold up until Rielly's goal got Toronto even.
Bobrovsky saved the day twice in overtime, denying a wide-open William Nylander from the right circle and Knies on a backhander from close in. But the Panthers began to control more of the play after the midway mark of OT, pressuring Woll until Marchand's shot won the game.
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The deal that brought Marchand to Florida at the NHL Trade Deadline after he had spent his entire career with the Boston Bruins has given the Panthers additional depth up front, especially with Matthew Tkachuk still hampered by a lower-body injury. He and fellow third-liners Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen have taken on heavy minutes and have often been Florida's best line.
On Friday, the longtime Toronto playoff nemesis from his days in Boston got the goal that might have saved the Panthers' season.
Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Marchand had just four points (two goals, two assists) in 10 regular-season games. But he's been a point-a-game player in the playoffs (two goals and eight points in eight games) and is tied with Eetu Luostarinen for the team lead in plus-minus at plus-8. He has two goals and five assists during a five-game point streak.
To say that Marchand has been a perfect fit with Florida would be an understatement.
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Florida won the Stanley Cup last spring largely because it was the most physical team in the playoffs. That physicality helped the Panthers get back into the game after their dreadful start.
The defending champs finished the game with 66 hits to 44 for the Leafs.
Perhaps the best example of Florida's physicality came on Verhaeghe's game-tying goal 5:17 into the second period. Matthew Tkachuk outbattled two Leafs to free the puck along the right boards near the Toronto blue line, sending Sam Bennett and Verhaeghe on a 2-on-1. Bennett's perfect pass gave Verhaeghe a half-empty net to hit – and he didn't miss.
All that hitting also appeared to wear down the Leafs in the later stages of OT. Florida controlled play in the last few minutes before Marchand's game-winner, getting seven of the final eight shots on goal – often by muscling Toronto players off the puck.
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Overtime victories are emotional, but they still count for just one win – and you need four to win a series. Despite overcoming a pair of two-goal deficits before winning in OT, the odds are still against the Panthers.
Toronto has won all 11 of its previous best-of-7 series when taking a 2-0 lead at home, while Florida is 0-5 in series when it loses Games 1 and 2. Leaguewide, teams facing 0-2 deficits have come back to win 57 times in 415 series – less than 14 percent.
Before Friday, the Leafs had blown just 11 leads all season – and none in the playoffs.
Thanks to Marchand's 14th game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs — the most among active players — the Panthers survived a slow start to give themselves a chance to even the series on Sunday. They're still playing from behind and can't afford to spot the Leafs multi-goal leads.
