Panthers survive blown two-goal lead, down Maple Leafs 4-2 in Game 1

Sam Bennett, with a goal and an assist, Carter Verhaeghe and Nick Cousins provided the rest of the offence for Florida, which roared back from a 3-1 deficit to stun the record-setting Boston Bruins with three straight victories and take that first-round matchup in seven games. Aleksander Barkov had two assists.

Verhaeghe, who scored the dramatic winner in Game 7 against Boston on Sunday, took a pass from Anthony Duclair and gave his team the lead for good when he beat Samsonov on a breakaway at 17:47 for his fourth goal of the playoffs. The Leafs hit the ice in the second round of the playoffs for the first time since Jeremy Roenick scored in OT of Game 6 for the Philadelphia Flyers to eliminate Toronto on May 4, 2004 — a stretch of 18 years, 11 months and 28 days.

Bobrovsky made a couple huge saves off Auston Matthews on a Leafs power play in the second before Florida went up 2-0 at 7:58 when Bennett tipped a point shot past Samsonov that initially hit the stick of Knies. Toronto kept up the physical play from the blue line when Morgan Rielly rocked Eric Stall and McCabe thumped Duclair.

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