Maple Leafs avoid sweep, force series against Panthers back to Toronto

Fox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

Joseph Woll stopped 24 shots in his first playoff start, Mitch Marner and William Nylander had the goals and the Toronto Maple Leafs staved off elimination by beating the Florida Panthers 2-1 in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Wednesday night.

Nylander was the beneficiary of an odd bounce for a power-play score in the second period, Marner scored midway through the third and Woll did the rest as he took the place of injured starter Ilya Samsonov.

Sam Reinhart scored for Florida, which got 23 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. The Panthers still lead the series 3-1, with Game 5 in Toronto on Friday night.

Woll, who turns 25 on July 12, was bidding to become the youngest Toronto goalie to have a playoff shutout since Felix Potvin — then 23 — stopped 42 shots to beat Chicago 3-0 on May 9, 1995.

He was 7:47 away from pulling it off.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his third-period goal with the bench against the Florida Panthers in Game Four of the Second Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the FLA Live Arena on May 10, 2023 in Sunrise, Florida.  (Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

Reinhart — who had the OT winner in Game 3 — took a quick pass from Matthew Tkachuk and found a way to just get the puck through Woll's leg pads for a power-play score, cutting Toronto's lead to 2-1.

Nylander’s surname is pronounced KNEE-lander, which seemed fitting on the opening goal.

Toronto went more than five full periods — 107 minutes and 46 seconds, to be exact, going back to late in the second period of Game 2 — without a power play until Florida’s Eetu