Game 3 was a nail-biter. Game 4 was decisive. Game 5 was an absolute massacre.
One team came out Wednesday night in Toronto ready to play, and the other team did not. Luckily for Florida Panthers fans, their team was the former. The Panthers showed nothing less than total domination on Wednesday night, defeating the Maple Leafs 6-1. Florida is now one win away from their third straight Eastern Conference Final.
Slower start
The start of this game felt different from the early action through the series so far. Maybe it was the extra day off, but both teams felt like they were in a feeling-out process. Each team had just one shot on goal through the first eight minutes. The Toronto crowd sometimes feels quiet, which was the case early on.
Both teams had opportunities midway through the period, including a breakaway by the Leafs’ William Nylander that Sergei Bobrovsky stopped. Finally, the Panthers struck first. After a turnover by Auston Matthews in the Toronto zone, Aaron Ekblad scored his first goal of the series.
After a slow start, Florida dominated play for the remainder of the period. The Maple Leafs got a power play opportunity late in the period after Anton Lundell was called for a trip, but the period ended with the lone goal.
Panthers take over
The second period began like the first ended: with the Panthers controlling play. Whereas, the first period was somewhat quiet, Florida exploded with offense in the second. Dimitry Kulikov scores a slapshot at 6:08 in the second to put the Cats up 2-0.
Next, Jesper Boqvist, off a beautiful assist from Sam Reinhard, put Florida up by three midway through the second. Nikko Mikkola struck next at 14:01 after another Leafs turnover. The silence of the Toronto crowd began to be broken by choruses of boos.
A.J. Greer added a goal at 6:23 in the third. The Leafs then pulled goalie Joseph Woll after letting in five. Sam Bennett pitched in with a power-play goal to make it 6-0.
Takeaways
The Maple Leafs looked uninspired. Scotiabank Arena was much quieter than the first two games of the series. What little positive energy existed dissipated more with every Florida goal. The TV broadcast captured many instances of dejected Toronto fans. It got worse in the third period. Fans emptied the stands early, and at least two Maple Leafs jerseys were tossed on the ice in disgust. Aside from William Nylander, their stars were invisible.
Paul Maurice did some line shuffling for this game in Evan Rodrigues's absence due to injury. It paid dividends, with Boqvist scoring from the top line. Florida has been operating on all cylinders over the past two games, and they are getting offense from all over the lineup.
17 different Panthers now have a goal in this postseason. Game 5 goals by Ekblad, Kulikov, and Mikkola mark the second time in Panthers history that three defensemen scored a goal in the same playoff game.
Panthers 3 stars of the game
1st star: Jesper Boqvist
Boqvist performed admirably as part of the Panthers' top line. He scored his first playoff goal and assisted on Aaron Ekblad’s first-period goal.
2nd star: Sergei Bobrovsky
Bob was excellent yet again. He would have recorded a second straight shutout if not for Toronto's meaningless garbage goal in the final minutes.
3rd star: Aaron Ekblad
Ekblad scored the game’s first goal and then assisted on Florida’s last goal. He had an all-around solid performance on both ends of the ice. He also gets bonus points for being the player to go after Max Domi late in the game.