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Series preview: Panthers in control against Maple Leafs

 Auteur: Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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Series preview: Panthers in control against Maple Leafs
Last night, the NHL featured two games. On one side, the Panthers and Maple Leafs crossed swords in Toronto, while on the other, the Kraken took on the Stars in Dallas.

Here’s the series summary:

Panthers (and Sergei Bobrovsky) in full control against the Maple Leafs

After winning the first game of the series, the Panthers were hoping to play spoiler again on the road, as they were in Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs.

However, it was the home side who took control early on. After an Alexander Kerfoot goal, Ryan O’Reilly added another a few minutes later to give the Leafs a 2-0 lead after five minutes of play.

A great way to start the game.

After the Panthers had scored a magnificent goal (thanks to a sublime pass from Sam Reinhart), a dubious gesture by Sam Bennett caught the eye. He bullied Matthew Knies to the point of propelling him to the ground, knocking the young Maple Leafs forward unconscious.

Knies retreated to the dressing room and did not return to the game.

Early in the second period, the Panthers showed their teeth twice in just over a minute. First, Aleksander Barkov found the back of the net, then Gustav Forsling followed suit 47 seconds later.

Clearly, Paul Maurice had found a way to motivate his players during the intermission.

The rest of the game was Sergei Bobrovsky’s business. The Panthers’ goaltender was brilliant once again, as he didn’t concede another after the Maple Leafs’ two quick goals early on.

In particular, he frustrated Auston Matthews with this rather unusual save.

The Panthers finally prevailed by a score of 3-2 thanks to quite a performance from their goaltender. They take a 2-0 lead in the series and return home for the next two games.

And after the game, Ilya Samsonov was quite direct when asked about the level of his counterpart in the Panthers. He seemed a bit stung, let’s say.

Stars level their series against the Kraken

In the West, the Stars hosted the Kraken and hoped to win Game #2 to level the series before heading to Seattle.

And after a fine effort by Wyatt Johnston to open the scoring, it was Evgenii Dadonov’s turn to find the back of the net with a good old-fashioned wrap-around.

Yes, that’s the player who looked like a passenger at the start of the Montreal season.

Tye Kartye then found the back of the net (with a beautiful shot) to put the Kraken on the scoreboard, but Joe Pavelski restored the home side’s two-goal lead late in the second period with a power-play goal.

He didn’t score four goals like he did in the first game, but he still got the ropes moving.

In the third period, Tyler Seguin scored to put the game out of reach for the Kraken.

Jordan Eberle scored a nice goal afterwards, but it came a little too late to give his team a chance to get back on track.

The Stars win by a score of 4-2, so that the series is now tied (1-1). Both teams head to Seattle for the next two games.

Overtime

– Beautiful pass from Sam Reinhart on the Panthers’ first goal.

– A disturbing scene last night, when Josh Mahura had to retreat to the locker room after receiving a puck in the face. He eventually made it back into the game (even though his face was really bloody on the footage), but he could have lost his eye if he hadn’t been wearing a visor.

– Quite a stop for Jake Oettinger.

– The evening’s results.

– The night’s top scorers.

(Credit: Screenshot/NHL.com)

– Only one game on the bill tonight:

Devils vs Hurricanes (8pm). Carolina leads the series 1-0.

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