Panthers earn Game 1 win over Maple Leafs in Toronto after first-round upset of Bruins

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Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves, Matthew Tkachuk had three assists and the Florida Panthers survived a squandered two-goal lead to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Tuesday night in opening game of their second-round playoff series.

Sam Bennett had a goal and an assist and Carter Verhaeghe and Nick Cousins also scored for Florida. Aleksander Barkov had two assists.

Matthew Knies had his first NHL goal and Michael Bunting also scored for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov stopped 24 shots.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday.

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Florida Panthers embrace  center Nick Cousins (21) who scored his first goal of the playoffs  in the first period as the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Florida Panthers in game one in the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs  at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. May 2, 2023. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

The Panthers had roared back from a 3-1 deficit to stun the record-setting Boston Bruins with three straight victories and take that first-round series in seven games.

The Maple Leafs ended a generation of misery Saturday when John Tavares scored in overtime of Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Lightning as Toronto advance in the postseason for the first time since 2004.

Tied at 2 late in the second period with the Maple Leafs pushing, the Panthers silenced the towel-waving crowd at Scotiabank Arena.

Verhaeghe, who scored the dramatic winner in Game 7 against Boston on Sunday, took a pass from Anthony Duclair and gave Florida the lead for good when he beat Samsonov on a breakaway at 17:47 for his fourth goal of the playoffs.

Toronto had a couple