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SportsPulse, USA TODAY
The Florida Panthers needed a late surge to clinch the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Now they’re in the conference final after pulling off a second consecutive upset.
The 111-point Toronto Maple Leafs, whose fans had shouted, “We want Florida,” after the first round, were the latest victim as the Panthers beat them 3-2 in overtime in Game 5 Friday night on a goal by Nick Cousins.
“A lot of people weren’t expecting a lot from us, including a bunch of Leaf fans before the series,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk told reporters. “We weren’t hearing much of those chants afterwards and that felt nice.”
The Panthers have won seven out of eight games since falling behind 3-1 in the first round to the record-setting 135-point Boston Bruins. Now, they have a chance to upset another 110-point team when they face the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final.
The game had a controversy when an apparent tying goal by Toronto’s Morgan Rielly was waved off after a long review.
NHL AWARDS: Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk among Hart Trophy finalists
HURRICANES: Jesper Fast makes up for miss with series-clinching goal
Aaron Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe scored for the Panthers in regulation. Rielly and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs.
A look at the game and what’s next for both teams:
The controversial no-goal call
Rielly skated in and jammed a puck into Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky in the second period. He celebrated as though he had scored. One replay showed that the puck had fully crossed the line, but after a nine-minute review by the NHL’s situation room, the no-goal call was confirmed.
The explanation: The referee had deemed the play dead before the puck crossed the line, so it was disallowed under Rule 78.5 (xii).
“It looked like a good goal, but it’s their decision,” Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews said.
Leafs fans were upset and threw objects on the ice.
What’s next for the Panthers?
Just like their NBA neighbor Miami Heat, they’re going to the conference final despite being the lowest seed. The Panthers are making their first trip since 1996. The Hurricanes won the season series 2-1.
Cousins was the hero in Game 5, but the Panthers had plenty of others to get past Toronto. The biggest was Bobrovsky, who didn’t get a playoff start until Game 4 in the first round. He helped hold the high-scoring Maple Leafs to two goals in every game. He was especially strong in Game 5, when he made 50 saves.
The Panthers, like the Hurricanes, get scoring throughout the lineup. They scored 14 goals against the Maple Leafs despite none from Tkachuk. Verhaeghe had three goals in the series and has five total in the postseason. Cousins is the team’s fourth different overtime scorer. Sam Bennett has been a physical force in the playoffs with 49 hits.
What’s next for the Maple Leafs?
Toronto reached the second round for the first time since 2004 but its win total was only five, far short of the 16 needed to win the Stanley Cup. That might cost general manager Kyle Dubas, who is in the final year of his contract and was very aggressive at the deadline. Coach Sheldon Keefe earlier signed an extension through 2023-24, but he could be out, too, if the Leafs make a change in the front office or if Dubas leaves on his own.
Most of the players that Dubas acquired at the deadline are pending unrestricted free agents, including Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari and Luke Schenn. So are longer-term Leafs players Michael Bunting (who received a three-game suspension in the first round), Alexander Kerfoot and Wayne Simmonds. Rookie Matthew Knies, who had a strong playoffs before suffering a concussion, will get a chance at a regular role next season.
Toronto will have to make a decision in net. Ilya Samsonov is a restricted free agent. The Leafs could choose to use him and Joseph Woll, who started Games 4 and 5 because of an injury to Samsonov, next season but would have to figure out what to do with often-injured Matt Murray, who has one year left on his contract.
Matthews, who did not score against the Panthers, and Nylander have one year left on their contracts and are eligible for extensions after July 1.
“I love these guys,” Rielly said. “I don’t want anything to change.”
Golden Knights push Oilers to brink of elimination
No Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens. The Edmonton Oilers are the lone team still alive this postseason, but their position is tenuous.
The Vegas Golden Knights rallied to beat the Oilers 4-3 Friday to take a 3-2 series lead. Mark Stone, Reilly Smith and Nicolas Hague scored 1:29 apart to take a 4-2 lead and chase goalie Stuart Skinner. They held on by limiting Edmonton’s vaunted power play to one goal on Keegan Kolesar’s five-minute boarding major against Edmonton’s Mattias Ekholm.
Hart Trophy finalist Connor McDavid scored twice for the Oilers, who will try to stave off elimination on Sunday night in Edmonton.
The teams will get defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Darnell Nurse back from one-game suspensions.
