Nylander powers Leafs over Panthers in Game 1 as Toronto loses Stolarz to injury

William Nylander got the Maple Leafs off to a flying start in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The star winger scored twice in the first period before adding an assist as Toronto built a big lead early before holding on late to down the Florida Panthers 5-4 and take Game 1 on Monday night.

Matthew Knies and Chris Tanev, with a goal and an assist each, and Morgan Rielly provided the rest of the offence for the Leafs, who got eight saves from Anthony Stolarz before he left with an undisclosed injury in the second period.

Joseph Woll stopped 17 shots in relief. Max Pacioretty and Jake McCabe added two assists apiece to open the teams' best-of-seven series.

Seth Jones, Eetu Luostarinen, Uvis Balinskis and Sam Bennett replied for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 shots for the defending champs. Brad Marchand and Carter Verhaeghe had two assists each.

Florida beat Toronto in five games at the same stage of the 2023 post-season on the way to making the Cup final. The Panthers went one step further 12 months later when they hoisted hockey's Holy Grail for the first time in franchise history.

Game 2 goes Wednesday back at Scotiabank Arena. The matchup of Atlantic Division heavyweights then shifts to South Florida.

Toronto opened the scoring inside a rocking rink just 33 seconds after puck drop when Nylander beat Bobrovsky through the five-hole from a tight angle for his fourth goal of the playoffs.

The Leafs, who beat the Ottawa Senators 4-2 in the first round to register just the second series win for the Original Six franchise in more than two decades, went up 2-0 at 12:51 when Nylander scooped up a big Bobrovsky rebound before deking the goaltender to the ice and roofing his second of the period.

Jones got