Sam Reinhart scores in overtime, Panthers beat Toronto 3-2 to take commanding series lead

Florida leads the Maple Leafs 3-0 in their best-of-7 second-round series

The Florida Panthers are one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals.

Just let those words wash over you for a moment.

The eighth-seed Panthers, the Wild Card consolation winners, just continue to shock the world.

Florida defeated the powerhouse Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 3 on Sunday by the score of 3-2 to take a stranglehold on their best-of-7 series.

It was the first time the Panthers have won a playoff overtime game on home ice since May 9, 1996. Almost 27 years to the day.

The win was also Florida’s sixth straight during the postseason, extending a new franchise record that was set after Thursday’s victory in Game 2.

Toronto did a lot of things right on Sunday, jumping all over the Panthers early and jumping out to a 1-0 lead.

Florida had to come from behind multiple times, tying the game at one and then again at two during the second period before eventually coming out on top during the overtime.

Now the teams will get a couple days between games to contemplate whats to come.

For the Panthers, it’s an opportunity to advance to the conference finals for the second time in team history and first time in almost 30 years.

Toronto, on the other hand, will spend the next two days in South Florida trying to figure out how to keep their season alive and push the series back to Canada for at least one more game at Scotiabank Arena.

FIRST PERIOD

Auston Matthews gave the crowd a charge before many fans had even settled into their seats following the opening puck drop.

Matthews hit the post behind Sergei Bobrovsky’s blocker 19 seconds into the game after leading a quick 2-on-1 that formed when the puck bounced past a pinching Gus Forsling in the Florida end of the ice.

A couple minutes later Toronto got another 2-on-1 and this time they’d take advantage.

Sam Lafferty took a perfect cross-ice fed from David Kampf and wired the puck past a stretching Bobrovsky at the 2:26 mark.

The ice began tilting in Florida’s favor as the period neared the midway point, and it was started by a hard-working shift by the Panthers fourth line. It was followed by solid possession shifts by the Sasha Barkov line and then by the third line.

Another Leafs odd-man rush came with about 2:30 to go, but this time Bobrovsky came up with a sparkling glove save while moving to his right on defenseman Jake McCabe, who had jumped up on the rush with John Tavares.

The period ended with just 11 total shots on goal. While the Panthers had seven to Toronto’s four, it was the Leafs that escaped the first 20 minutes with a 1-0 lead.

SECOND PERIOD

Less than a minute into the period a potential major shift came in the game.

Carter Verhaeghe was tripped by Luke Schenn while going to the net on an odd-man rush. 

Schenn couldn't stop his momentum toward the net and also took out Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov, sliding right into his shoulder. 

Samsonov suffered an injury on the play and had to come out of the game, so youngster Joseph Woll was called upon.

Florida tested Woll quickly and got on the scoreboard as a result.

Aaron Ekblad made a perfect pass out of Florida’s zone to find a streaking Duclair just as he crossed the Toronto blue line.

Duclair made a nice backhand forehand move on Woll, who bit and took himself out of the play, leaving a wide-open side of the net for The Duke to deposit the puck into.

Toronto got the lead back a few minutes later on a defensive breakdown by the Panthers.

Defenseman Erik Gustafsson found himself with the puck and half the offensive zone to work with, so he walked in on Bobrovsky while allowing David Kempf to sneak in behind.

Marc Staal, who had vacated the front of the net to chase his man to the blue line, came charging down through the zone trying to get back into position. Staal ended up deflecting Gustafsson’s pass into the net as he arrived in the crease.

Soon after the goal, Bobrovsky was called upon to make a nice save with his right pad on Kampf down low after Lafferty found him with a perfect feed to the net, keeping Florida down just one.

Duclair got another breakaway shortly after, but this time Woll came up with the glove save.

Moments later, Verhaeghe got his backside on a point shot by Gudas, deflecting the puck just enough that it bounced past Woll and tied the game at two.

It was a great timing play, as Verhaeghe was skating through Woll’s sightline when the puck grazed his gluteus maximus on its way to the net.

Florida would get its second power play of the game after Reilly was called for holding late in the period.

Right off the faceoff, Reinhart was stopped by Woll on the doorstep after a nice point-blank deflection.

The period ended with the game tied at two. Shots in the second were 14-9 in favor of the Panthers.

THIRD PERIOD

Toronto came out humming to start the third.

After killing off the remainder of Reilly penalty, the Leafs began increasing the pressure on Bobrovsky.

He made back-to-back stops on Matthews and Mitch Marner that had the FLA Live Arena faithful oohing and aahing just over five minutes into the frame.

When the game hit the first TV timeout of the third, Toronto was outshooting the Panthers 8-1.

As the period got into the later stages, Florida finally started generating some offense again.

Bennett tried going between his legs and over Joseph Woll's blocker on a breakaway with about four minutes to go, but the Toronto tendy came up with a big stop.

Florida outshot the Leafs 4-1 during the second half of the period, but the game would need more than 60 minutes to name a winner.

For the first time during the series, Florida and Toronto were heading to overtime.

OVERTIME

The extra session lasted all of 3:02.

The game-winning play started with the puck behind Florida’s net.

Ekblad made a pass from below the goal line, through the air, right to Reinhart at the Toronto blue line.

Reinhart circled with the puck, dancing around four Leafs players and buying time for Florida to complete a line change before pulling a quick toe drag and then heading into the zone.

He shot the puck around the boards to Lundell, who was waiting on the other side after coming off the bench. Lundell put it right back behind the Leafs’ net, where Reinhart had skated to follow the play.

Reinhart took the puck and all in one motion, wrapped it around the near post as Woll’s momentum kept him looking to the far post.

With the goalie facing the wrong way, all Reinhart had to do was slide the puck between Woll’s legs and into the net.

Game over.

The Panthers are now one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals.

GAME NOTES