Maple Leafs squeeze out dramatic overtime win over Panthers
The dramatic tilt between Toronto and Florida included seven goals, 14 penalties and plenty of questionable officiating.
Tuesday’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers had the intensity of a playoff contest.
Panthers' goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made impressive stops throughout the night, goals were overturned and a total of 14 penalties were called throughout the night.
The Leafs would eventually squeeze out the win in overtime with William Nylander's second goal of the game, ending a wild and dramatic battle between the Atlantic Division rivals. Leafs backup Ilya Samsonov came in for starter Matt Murray midway through the game and shutout the Panthers on 11 shots to earn the comeback win.
Despite the flurry of goals, those both on the ice and in the stands were mostly preoccupied by the physicality and questionable refereeing decisions of the contest.
Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe was left flabbergasted when Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren was given a penalty for attempting to slide Samsonov's loose stick back towards him, even though it was teammate Pierre Engvall who made the play. Panthers forward Sam Bennett pushed the stick away from the crease, which would normally warrant a penalty in itself.
Bennett at first gets a penalty for clearing the stick
but now Liljegren is getting a penalty for sending the stick to Samsonov initially but it wasn't even him, it was Engvall lol pic.twitter.com/tPzELJGOVc— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
Keefe the strong "wtf is going on" expression pic.twitter.com/KNQ2N4p395
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
Panthers’ tough guy Radko Gudas managed to get under the Maple Leafs’ skin on a number of occasions. At the end of the first frame, the Florida defenseman was assessed a minor unsportsmanlike conduct against Engvall, whom he shoved into his own net, only to yank him out before heading to the penalty box.
Radko Gudas being Radko Gudas pic.twitter.com/8gLmHqaUIi
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
The penalty assessed to Gudas would cost the Panthers, with Alex Kerfoot tying the game on the man advantage.
ALEXANDER KERFOOT 🚨
IT'S TIED pic.twitter.com/38RYaxncmv— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
During the second period, Gudas wanted more of Engvall, dropping low and sticking his hip out to hit him. As the winger tumbled to the ice, Zach Aston-Reese rushed to Gudas to answer for the dangerous hit.
Aston-Reese pushed the blueliner around and eventually dropped the gloves, hoping to entice Gudas to fight. However, the latter was simply baiting Aston-Reese and ducked down as the Maple Leafs’ forward attempted to land a few punches.
Gudas gets low and sticks the hip out on Engvall
Aston-Reese has something to say about it pic.twitter.com/oDIUVBLyeh— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
another angle of it pic.twitter.com/3BElyIRA8Z
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
Since Gudas did not engage, Aston-Reese was the lone player sent to the penalty box for roughing, but the Maple Leafs managed to kill the power play.
The bruising defenseman was not done there. As soon as Aston-Reese got out of the box, Gudas welcomed him back on the ice with a hard shove into the post next to Bobrovsky. Aston-Reese remained down until the officials called a charging penalty on the Panthers’ defenseman.
Aston-Reese is taken hard to the net pic.twitter.com/fy7JrwMCMC
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
Gudas’ second penalty of the contest led to another Maple Leafs’ power-play goal when superstar Auston Matthews found the back of the net with his 22nd tally of the season with just three seconds to go in the second frame.
AUSTON MATTHEWS 🚨
BUZZER BEATER pic.twitter.com/bPdm7mXcdZ— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
Matthews got his hands dirty along with his teammates, getting into a scuffle with Nick Cousins and earning a tripping penalty before Michael Bunting stepped in to defend him.
Montour cross-checks Matthews
Matthews trips Montour
Bunting activates pic.twitter.com/QmSTd58IUF— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
When asked about the first two periods of the game, Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk was left with few words to describe the the contest up to that point.
“There’s a lot going on. We’re going to need our best third to win this one tonight” he laughed.
Matthew Tkachuk was asked about the first two periods pic.twitter.com/qq4Kn2p3YA
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
William Nylander was brought down on a breakaway in the third frame, giving him the chance to tie things up at three apiece with a penalty shot. He failed to convert on the penalty shot, but he was the one who tied the game only minutes later by deflecting the puck with his head.
Nylander can't convert on the penalty shot
sends the puck high pic.twitter.com/wXrSFGIsaR— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
WILLIAM NYLANDER 🚨
now that's using your head! pic.twitter.com/q4K7caOkPq— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
The Panthers seemed to get away with a number of no-calls throughout the night, including this blatant bit of roughing in front of their own goal late in the game.
nothing to see here pic.twitter.com/upAU9eUo9R
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
Nylander then put the game to bed with a nifty move to the net, placing the puck past Bobrovsky to give Toronto the 4-3 win, capping off one of the wildest games of the NHL season.
WILLIAM NYLANDER
WE'RE IN STYLE! OVERTIME WINNER! pic.twitter.com/L6Fomypl16— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 18, 2023
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