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, the Panthers’ goalie, made many impressive stops throughout the evening. Goals were overturned and 14 penalties were issued throughout the night.

The Leafs eventually won in overtime thanks to William Nylander’s second goal. It ended a dramatic and intense battle between Atlantic Division rivals. Ilya Samsonov, the Leafs’ backup, replaced Matt Murray as starter. She shut out the Panthers on 11 shots for the win.

Despite the rush of goals, spectators and on-ice officials were mostly distracted by the physicality of the contest and the 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. Sam Bennett, a Panthers forward, pushed the stick off the crease. This would normally bring about a penalty.

Panthers’ tough guy Radko Gudas managed to get under the Maple Leafs’ skin on a number of occasions. The Florida defenseman was penalized for minor unsportsmanlike conduct after he shoved Engvall in his own net.

Gudas’ penalty would have been a major blow to the Panthers. Alex Kerfoot would tie the game by claiming the man advantage.

Gudas was more demanding of Engvall during the second period. He dropped low and aimed his hip at him. Zach Aston-Reese ran to Gudas after the dangerous hit.

Aston-Reese continued pushing the blueliner and finally dropped the gloves in an attempt to get Gudas to fight. However, the latter was simply baiting Aston-Reese and ducked down as the Maple Leafs’ forward attempted to land a few punches.

Gudas didn’t engage so Aston-Reese was sent to the penalty box as roughing. However, the Maple Leafs were able to end the power play.

The bruising defenseman did not stop 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 unable to answer questions about the first period of the game.

“There’s a lot going on. We’re going to need our best third to win this one tonight” he laughed.

William Nylander was penalized for a third-period breakaway. 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.

Find out more about Sports