SUNRISE — It turns out the Panthers just needed to come home.
After dropping back-to-back games in Toronto to start their second-round series with the Maple Leafs, the Panthers took two straight games in Sunrise, evening the series at two games each with a 2-0 win over Toronto on Sunday.
Florida will face Toronto in Game 5 at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
“It’s big,” forward Sam Bennett said. “We did a great job of showing our composure, and we settled down at home. We played two much better games. And … it’s now a best-of-three, and it’s going to be a fun end to the series.”
Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers on the board with 4:15 left in the first period — a slow start to the scoring in this series. Florida was on its fourth power play of the game after former Panther Oliver Ekman-Larsson went to the box for delay of game. Verhaeghe received a pass from Matthew Tkachuk directly in front of the net and buried the one-time shot.
Florida had numerous good chances to extend its lead, but the Panthers either missed their targets or could not corral their opportunities. When they did, Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll did an excellent job of stymieing Florida. The Toronto netminder ended the game with a .944 save percentage.
“He was great,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “I thought he played an excellent game. All those (power plays) they had in the first — he was a big reason that it was only 1-0.”
Fortunately for the Panthers, their goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, was up to the task of matching Woll’s performance. Bobrovsky faced fewer shots, but he did not allow any of them to pass by him.
“Bob was incredibly solid tonight, and I think he’s our backbone of our team,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “Always has been. And you don’t really appreciate his skills until you get to play with him.”
The Panthers’ defense, which surrendered 13 goals through the first three games of the series, tightened up and allowed only 23 shots.
“I thought our gaps were good,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “I thought our forwards did some really fine work, allowing that to happen. Such a dynamic team, Toronto … if you don’t do enough work from the goal line to your red line, you’re going to really put the defense in a very, very difficult position.”
Bennett, who leads Florida with five goals this postseason, gave the Panthers some insurance. After defenseman Aaron Ekblad forced a turnover, Bennett won a race for a loose puck, deked Woll and sunk his shot with 7:50 left in the third period.
“When I was taking it down, I was looking at all my options,” Bennett said. “I was looking at passing first, and then I was shooting. I just didn’t see either of those open up and was able to just hold onto it and wait him out a little bit, and then I was able to put it in.”
The game did not end without drama. As the teams scrummed along the boards as the clock approached zero in the third period, Toronto center Max Domi hit Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov into the boards.
Maurice said Barkov will be OK.
“I think the league looks at those things very closely, especially at that point in the game,” Maurice said. “And that’s their job.”
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