TORONTO - Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves and Matthew Tkachuk had three assists as the Florida Panthers survived a blown 2-0 lead to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Tuesday in Game 1 of their best-of-seven second-round playoff series.
Sam Bennett, with a goal and an assist, Carter Verhaeghe, Nick Cousins and Brandon Montour provided the rest of the offence for Florida, which roared back from a 3-1 deficit to stun the record-setting Boston Bruins with three straight victories and take that first-round matchup in seven games. Aleksander Barkov had two assists.
Matthew Knies, with his first NHL goal, and Michael Bunting replied for Toronto.
The Leafs ended a generation of misery Saturday when John Tavares scored in overtime of Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Lightning to see the Original Six franchise advance in the post-season for the first time since 2004.
Ilya Samsonov stopped 24 shots for the Leafs, who host Game 2 with the Panthers on Thursday before the series shifts to South Florida.
Tied 2-2 late in the second period with the Leafs pushing, the never-say-die visitors, the Bruins learned that first-hand responded to silence the towel-waving crowd at Scotiabank Arena.