In wild OT win, Maple Leafs triumph over Panthers
Tuesday’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers had the intensity of a playoff contest.
Sergei Bobrovsky, Panthers’ goalie made impressive stops throughout night. Goals were overturned and total 14 penalties were called throughout night.
With William Nylander’s second goal, the Leafs won the overtime game. This ended a thrilling battle between Atlantic Division rivals. Ilya Samanthasonov, a Leafs backup, was called in to replace Matt Murray at halftime and shut down the Panthers with 11 shots.
Despite all the goals, the contest was dominated by physicality and questionable refereeing decisions.
Sheldon Keefe of Toronto was stunned when Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren was assessed a penalty for trying to slide Samsonov’s stick back towards himself. Pierre Engvall made the play. The penalty would normally be a penalty for Panthers forward Sam Bennett pushing the stick away from his crease.
Panthers’ tough guy Radko Gudas managed to get under the Maple Leafs’ skin on a number of occasions. At the end the first frame, Engvall was assessed minor unsportsmanlike conduct. Gudas shoved Engvall in his own net and then pulled him out before going to the penalty box.
Gudas’ penalty would have been a major blow to the Panthers. Alex Kerfoot would tie the game by claiming the man advantage.
Gudas demanded more from Engvall in the second period. Zach Aston Reese raced to Gudas’ aid after Engvall fell to the ice.
Aston-Reese tried pushing Gudas around, but eventually dropped the gloves. However, the latter was simply baiting Aston-Reese and ducked down as the Maple Leafs’ forward attempted to land a few punches.
Gudas failed to engage, so Aston Reese was the only player sent to penalty box for roughing. But the Maple Leafs managed the power play to end.
The bruising defenseman wasn’t done there. Gudas welcomed Aston-Reese back onto the ice by giving him a hard push into the Bobrovsky post. Aston-Reese remained down until the officials called a charging penalty on the Panthers’ defenseman.
Gudas’ second penalty of the contest led to another Maple Leafs’ power-play goal when superstar Auston Matthews found the back of the net with his 22nd tally of the season with just three seconds to go in the second frame.
Matthews was a bit rough with his teammates. He got into a fight with Nick Cousins, earning a tripping sanction before Michael Bunting intervened to help him.
Matthew Tkachuk (Panthers forward) was asked his thoughts on the first two periods.
“There’s a lot going on. We’re going to need our best third to win this one tonight” he laughed.
William Nylander was sent to the stands on a third-period breakaway. This gave him the chance of tying the game at three each with a penalty shot. Although he failed to convert the penalty shot, Nylander was the one who tied it just minutes later when he deflected the puck with his head.
The Panthers were able to avoid a few no-calls throughout the evening, including this obvious roughing in front their goal late in game.
The game was finally settled by Nylander, who made a clever move to the net and placed the puck past Bobrovsky for Toronto’s 4-3 win. It was the culmination of one of the most wild games in the NHL season.
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