Panthers push Toronto Maple Leafs to the brink with overtime win: Game Highlights

Entering last night’s contest down 2-0 in the series, last night was about as much of a must-win as it could get for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Reverse sweeps are incredibly rare in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, so bringing this series to 2-1 was of the utmost importance for the Leafs.

Unfortunately, they fell in overtime to the Panthers and find themselves down 3-0 in the series and on the brink of elimination. Here are the highlights from last night’s game.

Sam Lafferty opened the scoring just over two minutes into the first. David Kampf and Morgan Reilly picked up the assists on the goal.

Lafferty’s goal would be the only tally of the first period. That means we’re headed for the second, where bad news struck for the Leafs. Less than a minute into the second frame, goaltender Ilya Samsonov went down in a heap after Luke Schenn crashed into him on the backcheck…

Samsonov exited the game, with Joseph Woll taking over and Matt Murray coming down from the press box to serve as the EBUG.

The Leafs wasted little time busting out their pedestrian defence coverage, allowing Anthony Duclair to walk in all alone on Woll almost before the goaltender even had a chance to stretch.

Erik Gustafsson tied things up roughly five minutes later, with William Nylander and Jake McCabe picking up the helpers.

Carter Verhaege tied things up for the Panthers before the second period came to a close.

The two teams went back and forth in the third period, and Joseph Woll made a nice save on Sam Bennett to keep the game tied and force overtime.

Overtime ended quickly, with Sam Reinhart picking up last night’s game winner.

Shotty team defence cost the Leafs on the final goal, but last night was another night where the club’s top gunners failed to score. Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and William Nylander have yet to score in this series, and the Leafs are certainly feeling the effects of that. Game four is set for Wednesday at 7 PM ET.