5/7/2025
(Toronto, ON)
Mitch Marner’s early third period goal provided enough for the margin of victory for the Toronto Maple Leafs in their game 2 win over the Florida Panthers. The series shifts down to Sunrise with the Leafs leading the best of seven 2-0.
Max Pacioretty, William Nylander, Max Domi, and Mitch Marner scored for Toronto. Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand and Anton Lundell scored for Florida in the loss.
The Maple Leafs came into the evening with a 1-0 series lead, but nothing is easy in Leaf country. Toronto turned to backup goaltender Joseph Woll, after starter Anthony Stolarz suffered an injury in game 1. The defending Cup Champion Panthers, sought to take a split down to Sunrise.
Midway through the first period, the Panthers went on the power play after a Bobby McCann tripping penalty. Five seconds later, Aleksander Barkov wristed a shot by Joseph Woll to put the Cats up 1-0 at 10:58. Toronto utilized their special teams prowess late in the first when Dmitri Kulikov took a delay of game penalty. Max Pacioretty tipped a Morgan Reilly shot from the high slot to tie the game at 18:19 of the first. The Cats and Leafs went into the first intermission squared up at one.
Period number two began quickly for Florida, fifteen seconds quickly. Florida’s Eetun Luostarinen generated a Leaf turnover, and gave a pass to Anton Lundell who quickly found Brad Marchand with a backhander past Woll to put Florida in the lead.
Toronto responded when William Nylander picked up right where he left off after a three point performance in game 1. A careless pass from Matthew Tkachuk set up Pacioretty and Nylander on a partial two on one. Nylander snapped a shot by Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game again. Toronto grabbed their first lead in the closing minutes of the middle frame. Toronto’s Steven Lorentz chiseled a drop pass for snapped shot from Max Domi. His drive found the back of the net at 17:09 to put Toronto in front 3-2. A score that held up through 40 minutes.
Florida prides itself with a fierce forecheck. That aggressiveness paid off at the 5:33 mark of the third. Florida began an offensive rush off a dumpin leading to an Aaron Ekblad’s pass finding Anton Lundell, who quickly tipped the pass by Joseph Woll for the tying goal. The deadlock lasted all but 17 seconds. Toronto generated offensive zone time of their own off a dump in. A blast from Jake McCabe went hot off the back glass straight to Mitch Marner from the right wing boards. His wrister went through traffic and by Sergei Bobrovsky to put the Leafs in front again.
Marner’s goal stood up as the winner, with the Leafs taking a 2-0 lead in the series with a 4-3 win.
The game winning goal scorer spoke to the media saying, “We’re just trying to keep our calmness…It’s going to be a roller-coaster ride throughout every game. There’s going to be different ups and downs throughout everything. We’re playing a heck of a hockey team over there and you know they’re going to come with everything especially when they’re down goals, and for us, it’s just trying to stay even-keeled throughout it all. Try to just focus on your next shift. You can’t change anything in the past, so just stay in the present, stay in the moment, try to do your thing, and luckily enough I threw a puck on net and it went in.” Staying even-keeled has been the story for the Leafs success this postseason.
The series shifts to Sunrise for Game 3 on Friday night. A Leafs win could put the champs in a stranglehold, a loss and the series will be up for grabs. Florida hopes to hold serve with their playoff destiny hanging in the balance Friday night.
(Winnipeg, MB)
Mikko Rantanen continued his rampant pace with another hat trick carrying the Stars to a 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets in game 1.
Rantanen scored his sixth, seventh, eighth goals of the playoffs for Dallas. Nino Niederreiter and Mark Scheifele tallied goals for Winnipeg in the loss.
This series at times was the last outcome expected on multiple occasions. Dallas came into the postseason having lost seven games in a row. And the Stars were without the services of their top defenseman Miro Heiskanen. Dallas also lost forward Jason Robertson to an injury suffered in a meaningless final game of the regular season in a 5-1 loss to bottom dweller Nashville. After several wild wins in the first round to the Colorado Avalanche, the Stars rallied from down 2-0 to in Game 7 with a hat trick from former Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen to stun Colorado 4-2.
The Winnipeg Jets won the President’s Trophy for the NHL’s best record in the regular season. Against the St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg was put to the test. Winnipeg’s Presumptive Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck was pulled from all three losses in St. Louis to set up Game 7 last Sunday night. The Jets had to win without the services of their best defenseman Josh Morrissey and forward Mark Scheifele. Trailing 3-1 with two minutes left, Winnipeg tied the game with two seconds left on a goal from Cole Perfetti. In double overtime, Adam Lowry tipped a shot from the point from Neal Pionk to send the Jets to the second round. This series features two unlikely stories, but only one would live on to the conference final. The first step to that goal, began Wednesday night.
Period number one began with Dallas outshooting Winnipeg 8-0. The Jets responded outshooting the Stars 13-12 in the opening frame. Neither goaltender Dallas’s Jake Oettinger and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck were beaten through 20 minutes. The same could not be said in the middle frame.
Nino Niederreiter opened the scoring for the Jets on a swift backhander 3:30 into period. Mikko Rantanen’s impact for Dallas was showcased in game 7 with his third period hat trick. Rantanen picked up right where he left off with a poked shot by Hellebuyck at 8:43 of the second. Rantanen was back at it again. At 14:21 Rantanen tipped a Thomas Harley left point blast to put Dallas in the lead. The Fin was far from done. The well traveled forward parked in the left circle and had his wrist shot tip off of Winnipeg’s Dylan Samberg and into the net. The power play goal at 16:38 for Rantanen gave him a natural hat trick. Mark Scheifele scored 57 seconds later to put the Jets within one after two periods of play.
Winnipeg outshot Dallas 10-4 in the third period. Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger had to withstand a Winnipeg barrage of chances, but stayed strong, saving every shot he saw. Dallas stole game 1 with a 3-2 win.
Mikko Rantanen and Jake Oettinger were massive reasons for the success of the Stars. Oettinger made 29 saves in the win, while Rantanen had his hat trick. During the post game media scrum, Rantanten emphasized not getting too high or low in the playoffs. That focus moves towards Game 2.
Up Next: Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Friday night at 6:30 pacific on TNT and CBC.
Stay tuned to ESN for more updates on the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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