Florida Rally Falls Short, Toronto Takes Game One

Coming off a red-hot series win over Tampa Bay, the Florida Panthers were ice cold to begin the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, falling to the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 5-4. While the Florida rally fell short, there were problems early on. And while the ending was exciting, the first two periods were NOT Panthers hockey.

Florida feeds on their aggressive forecheck, lack of turnovers, and lack of mistakes in the postseason. Having a reliable goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky helps as well. Unfortunately, the first period didn’t feature this as the Maple Leafs got an extra-early lead.

Learn From This And Move On

Toronto scored its first goal of the game 33 seconds in. William Nylander landed a wrister from the right side, an incredibly tough-angle shot that flew by everyone. Florida’s no stranger to battling back from a deficit. Still, this was an unexpected goal that got all of Toronto buzzing.

Nylander doubled down with another wrister later in the period to raise the Leafs’ lead to 2-0. Florida began this game looking slow and somehow rusty. They’ve played a lot of hockey lately and thrive in road environments. Everyone, from Sam Reinhart to Matthew Tkachuk, was fumbling passes and shots early on.

Eventually, the Cats got on the board thanks to Seth Jones. Toronto was on another power play, but having too many men on the ice negated that. Jones found an angle from a long distance and nailed a snapshot in front of heavy traffic around Anthony Stolarz.

Jonesy chipping away on the power play! pic.twitter.com/GVRPp9QXWf

— x – Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 6, 2025

Just when you thought we were back to seeing the old Florida, Toronto got a goal back 19 seconds later off a rush to the net. I’ll give Bobrovsky the benefit of the doubt on the first two goals. However, this one was all on him to make the play, and he didn’t.

Nothing But The Best For Stolarz

The second period provided nothing good for Florida on the scoreboard – just another goal for Toronto to make it 4-0. However, there was a blessing in disguise for the Panthers that came through unfortunate circumstances.

In the second, Sam Bennett was battling for the puck near the net and landed his glove on the back of Stolarz’s head, sending him to the ground. He stayed in the game for a few minutes before returning to the bench and puking. He was evaluated for a concussion, left the game, and was reportedly stretchered out of the arena to a nearby hospital.

Now, considering the reputation Bennett has built over this season as a “dirty player,” people were quick to place the blame on him. However, five minutes into the game, Stolarz took a puck to the face that knocked his helmet off. Nothing is for certain right now, but perhaps that played a bigger part in his concussion than the hit from Bennett, which did look somewhat tame.

Per @reporterchris, Anthony Stolarz left Scotiabank Arena on a stretcher during the third period following this collision with Sam Bennett pic.twitter.com/JXDQugOTwr

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 6, 2025

Regardless, Toronto had to send out Joseph Woll for the third period onwards, and that’s when the Panthers turned on the gas. They scored back-to-back goals within the first four minutes of the period. The first was a tip-in by Eetu Loustarinen, and the second was a wrister from Uvis Balinskis.

Good In The End, But Just Too Late

Florida played with a lot of grit to cut the deficit to a single goal. However, their momentum was ultimately cancelled by a roughing the penalty by Niko Mikkola with ten minutes to go, then a missed tripping call which led to a backhander goal for Toronto to stop the bleeding. The Cats took out Bobrovsky and nailed an empty-netter, but it wasn’t enough as the Leafs went on to win, and the Florida rally fell short.

There’s no getting around it, Florida only has itself to blame for this loss. Despite the questionable officiating, starting that slow in the first two periods was the difference-maker. Now, sometimes you need to be punched in the mouth to remember who you are.

The Panthers were SMOKED by Boston in the first game of the second round of the playoffs last season. They turned around and won the series in six games. While the Florida rally fell short, if they come into Game Two with the aggression level of that final period (especially if Stolarz is unable to play), then they can bounce back in this series.

Game Two is set for Wednesday, May 7th at 7 pm.