TORONTO – It was the William Nylander show early.
Nylander scored two goals and added an assist, as the Toronto Maple Leafs opened their Eastern Conference Semifinals series with a 5-4 win over the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena.
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Nylander’s first goal came just 33 seconds into the game – a wrist shot that beat Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who allowed three goals or more for the third time this postseason.
Toronto would make it 2-0 on another gorgeous wrist shot from Nylander.
Florida responded quickly thanks to a power play goal from Seth Jones, in for Aaron Ekblad, who wasn’t eligible to play Monday due to suspension.
Morgan Rielly restored Toronto’s two-goal lead just seconds later.
Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz, the ex-Panther, would leave in the second period after taking an elbow to the head from Sam Bennett.
Stolarz was ruled out for the remainder of the game and was replaced by Joseph Woll.
The Panthers made things very interesting early in the final period, getting goals from Eetu Luostarinen and Uvis Balinskis to cut the Maple Leafs’ lead to one.
A breakaway goal from Matthew Knies put the Maple Leafs back in front by two, but with the extra attacker on the ice late for the Panthers, Bennett sniped one past Woll to trim the deficit to a goal.
Game 2 is set for Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. ET, before the series shifts to Amerant Bank Arena for Game 3 Friday and Game 4 Sunday.