NHL-Panthers stun Maple Leafs to draw first blood in playoff series

TORONTO : The Florida Panthers spoiled the Toronto Maple Leafs' long-awaited return to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Tuesday with a 4-2 victory in the opener of their best-of-seven series.

From the moment Toronto sealed their place in the second round there has been a palpable buzz all around the city.

The Leafs' win over Tampa Bay in the first round had snapped a 19-year playoff series win drought, which was the longest active such streak in the NHL, but the Panthers brought Leafs' fans crashing down to Earth at Scotiabank Arena.

"There's some real high-end skill through their lineup that can make a lot of plays at a real high pace," said Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe.

"And they attacked the net with a lot of urgency. So I think those are the kind of things that just happened a step quicker tonight than it was in the previous series. I think that caught us and I think our guys will adjust to that."

Despite being the underdogs, the Panthers came to Toronto full of confidence after storming back from a 3-1 series deficit to defeat a top-seeded Boston team that won an NHL-record 65 games in the regular season.

Florida opened the scoring midway through the first period when Nick Cousins pounced on a rebound for his first goal of the playoffs, sucking some of the energy out of the Toronto crowd.

The Panthers doubled their lead eight minutes into the second period when Sam Bennett tipped in Aaron Ekblad's shot from the point.

But the Maple Leafs needed only 11 seconds to respond as Matthew Knies found the net, and another goal from Michael Bunting followed seven minutes later to nearly blow the roof off the electric arena.

Florida restored their lead with just over two minutes left in the second period when