After two consecutive defeats at home in the semi-finals of the NHL Eastern Conference playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs found themselves in an extremely unenviable situation. The series moved to the Florida Panthers court, and the Leaves needed to take the first game in Sunrise by all means for a comeback. Wards of Sheldon Keefe understood the seriousness of the situation and did, if not everything, then a lot to return to the battle for the finals of the East. Sam Lafferty and Erik Gustafsson gave the Maple Leafs the lead twice. Moreover, Lafferty did open the scoring in the very debut of the meeting — already in the 3rd minute.
But a case intervened in the plans of the “leaves”, which put the prospects of the eminent and wealthy Canadian club into serious doubt. In the debut of the second period, with the score 1:0 in favor of Toronto, one of the leaders of the Maple Leafs, Ilya Samsonov, was injured. The Russian goalkeeper had a powerful regular season, won back the title of starter and helped the “leaves” get a historic exit in the second round of the playoffs. However, now Keef, apparently, will have to rely on spare goalkeepers. Canadian defender «Toronto» Luke Schenn, in an attempt to cover the throw of Carter Verage at high speed, crashed into Samsonov and caused him damage.
Whether it turned out to be serious or not, time will tell, but Ilya could not continue the game and left the site ahead of schedule. The further fate of the Russians is unknown even to the head coach of Toronto, who had to include Joseph Wall in the game. But the North American media, even before the game in Sunrise, noted that Ilya Samsonov played the last playoff matches with an untreated injury. Apparently, another one has been added to it.
«No news on Samsonov's health. Wall? He's ready for this episode,» said Sheldon Keefe.
Before the damage, the Russian managed to play 20-odd minutes and acted reliably, reflecting all 8 shots made by the players, “Florida” on target. Wall's forced exit was, as expected, a sore point in Toronto's defense. This was evidenced by two goals, “Panthers” in the second period. They also helped the sensational Stanley Cup team tie twice in the game.
Unplanned personnel changes in the Toronto roster forced Keefe's coaching staff to call in Matt Murray from the reserve, who also almost missed the ice. At the end of the second period, Wall, like Samsonov, was attacked by his own player, but still escaped injury.
In general, Wall acted quite confidently and frankly helped the team out in some episodes. The save of the American goalkeeper “Toronto” at the very end of regular time of the match turned out to be especially striking, when, after an unsuccessful transfer of the “Leaves” forward Ryan O'Reilly, the “Panthers” organized a dangerous exit one to zero. Forward “Florida” Sam Bennett beautiful throw from under the leg almost sentenced the guests to defeat.
However, it — defeat — “Toronto” still did not escape. It happened in overtime. For the Maple Leafs, this was the fourth moment in the current playoffs when the outcome of the meeting was decided in extra time, and so far luck has been on the side of the Canadians. However, the Panthers also did well in overtime, winning two of their two games in that Stanley Cup. Today, the southerners have issued a third victory, which also became the third in the entire series against the Maple Leafs. The team that jumped into the playoffs with great difficulty and at the last moment is already one step away from reaching the final of the East!
The Panthers played a huge role, of course, Sergei Bobrovsky. The two-time winner of the Vezina Trophy in this playoff shows a phenomenal game and no less phenomenal results. Bob updated the club's own record for the longest wins in the Stanley Cup — together with the Russian «Florida» has already won six meetings in a row.