The game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers will take place at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday, May 4 at 7:00 PM ET.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs will welcome the Florida Panthers to Scotiabank Arena for an NHL game on Thursday. The Toronto Maple Leafs lost 2-4 in their last game over the Panthers. The Maple Leafs ended a generation of misery Saturday when John Tavares scored in overtime of Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Lightning as Toronto advance in the postseason for the first time since 2004.
“They played well,” Toronto defenseman Luke Schenn said. “But a lot of the goals that were scored were self-inflicted. We still have a lot more to give.” Tied at 2 late in the second period with the Maple Leafs pushing, the Panthers silenced the towel-waving crowd at Scotiabank Arena.
Verhaeghe, who scored the dramatic winner in Game 7 against Boston on Sunday, took a pass from Anthony Duclair and gave Florida the lead for good when he beat Samsonov on a breakaway at 17:47 for his fourth goal of the playoffs. “Instead of going in (to intermission) tied, you go up a goal, so it’s huge,” Verhaeghe said. “It kind of settled us down after the period. You take a deep breath. It was a good goal.”
The Florida Panthers on the other hand lost 2-4 against the Leafs in their last game. Florida coach Paul Maurice says the Panthers play their best hockey when faced with the most difficulty. That was true Tuesday night, as the Panthers had less than 48 hours to recover from their first-round series win over Boston and opened the second round in Toronto.
“If we’re a little fatigued because that (Bruins) series was heavy, it’s kind of our normal day,” Maurice said. “When you look at our schedule at the end of January, it was brutal. And that’s when we started to play our best hockey. “So being in the mud, as we would say, we’re kind of used to it.” Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves, Matthew Tkachuk had three assists and the Panthers survived a squandered two-goal lead to defeat the Maple Leafs 4-2 in opening game of their second-round playoff series.
“He was unbelievable, he’s been great in every game that he’s come in,” Sam Bennett said of the netminder. “It has been awesome to see. That’s what we need out of him and he’s stepped up.” Bennett had a goal and an assist and Carter Verhaeghe and Nick Cousins also scored for Florida. Aleksander Barkov had two assists.
Michael Bunting – Calle Järnkrok – Matthew Knies
Auston Matthews – Ryan O’Reilly – Morgan Rielly
Noel Acciari – Zach Aston-Reese – T. J. Brodie
Mark Giordano – David Kämpf
Alexander Kerfoot – Timothy Liljegren
Mitch Marner – Jake McCabe
William Nylander – Ilya Samsonov
Luke Schenn
John Tavares
Matthew Tkachuk – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Bennett
Nick Cousins – Anthony Duclair – Aaron Ekblad
Brandon Montour – Carter Verhaeghe – Sergei Bobrovsky
Zac Dalpe – Gustav Forsling
Radko Gudas – Anton Lundell
Eetu Luostarinen – Josh Mahura
Sam Reinhart – Eric Staal
Marc Staal
Colin White
Toronto Maple Leafs: Matt Murray, Victor Mete, Bobby McMann, Nicholas Robertson, Jake Muzzin
Florida Panthers: Ryan Lomberg, Spencer Knight, Patric Hornqvist
The game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers will take place at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday, May 4 at 7:00 PM ET.
The match between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers will be telecast live on TNT.
| Country | Channel | Date and Time |
| United States | TNT | May 4 (7:00 PM ET) |
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