Mitch Marner scored the winner in the third period and Joseph Woll made 25 saves in place of the injured Anthony Stolarz as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Florida Panthers 4-3 to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series Wednesday.
Max Pacioretty and Max Domi, with a goal and an assist each, and William Nylander provided the rest of the offence for the Leafs. Morgan Rielly added two assists.
Anton Lundell, with a goal and an assist, Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand replied for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who find themselves down two games in a series for the first time since the 2023 final.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 shots.
The best-of-seven matchup between Atlantic Division heavyweights now shifts to South Florida, with Game 3 set for Friday.
Woll got the start after Stolarz exited midway through Monday’s opener following an elbow to the head from Panthers centre Sam Bennett. The Leafs’ No. 1 crease option also took a puck up high on a shot that knocked off his mask in the opening period.
Woll, who entered with a .950 save percentage in his four previous playoff starts, performed well when he was also called upon in both the 2023 and 2024 post-seasons because of injury.
Toronto led 3-2 after two periods, but Florida got even at 5:33 of the third when Lundell shovelled his third goal of the playoffs past Woll.
Marner quickly recaptures lead
The home side restored its lead just 17 seconds later when Marner, who became a father for the first time Sunday morning, fired a shot from the boards that found its way through traffic past a surprised Bobrovsky for his second.
Woll was then at full stretch with 9:59 left in regulation to make a huge stop on Mackie Samoskevich to keep the Leafs up 4-3 before Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe swatted a loose puck out of the crease with under six minutes to go.
The Panthers continued to press and Sam Reinhart hit the post with just over three minutes on the clock before the Leafs held on late to grab a 2-0 advantage in the series.
Florida, which beat Toronto in five games two years ago at the same stage of the playoffs, went ahead 2-1 just 15 seconds into the middle period when Marchand — a Leafs playoff nemesis as a member of the Boston Bruins— took a pass from Lundell down low off a Rielly turnover and roofed his first.
A hard-hitting, frenetic period continued at a pulsating Scotiabank Arena with physical play on both sides.
The Leafs pushed in front 3-2 with 2:51 remaining in the period when Domi took a pass from Steven Lorentz on a 2-on-1 and one-timed his second over a sprawling Bobrovsky.
Toronto got nothing from two disjointed power plays inside the game’s first 10 minutes before Florida struck five seconds into its first man advantage when Barkov fired past Woll for his second at 10:58.
Bobby McMann, who took a tripping penalty on Marchand to set up the Panthers’ breakthrough, jumped on a turnover only to be denied on a breakaway by Bobrovsky.
The Leafs got their third power play of the period when Dmitry Kulikov was whistled for delay of game for shooting the puck out of play.
Toronto again didn’t get much going until the second unit took the ice. Rielly fired a shot from the point late in the man advantage that Pacioretty _ a healthy scratch to start the playoffs before scoring the series-clinching goal against the Ottawa Senators in the first round _ tipped it upstairs for his second with 1:41 left before the intermission.
