Maple Leafs eliminated from playoffs as Panthers' Cousins secures Game 5 OT winner
CBC
The Maple Leafs are out of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Nick Cousins scored at 15:32 of overtime and Sergei Bobrovsky made 50 saves as the visiting Florida Panthers downed Toronto 3-2 on Friday to win the teams' second-round playoff series 4-1.
Aaron Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe, with a goal and an assist each, provided the rest of the offence for the Panthers.
Florida — the team with the fewest points to qualify for the post-season — took all three games in Toronto and improved to 6-1 on the road this spring after also upsetting the record-setting Boston Bruins. The Panthers will meet the Carolina Hurricanes in the third round after they got past the New Jersey Devils in five games.
WATCH | Cousins scores in OT to eliminate Leafs:
Morgan Rielly and Willian Nylander replied for the Leafs, who advanced in the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades when they topped the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.
Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas doesn't have a contract beyond June 30, while there have also been rumblings about the future of head coach Sheldon Keefe.
Nylander and Auston Matthews both have one year remaining on their contracts and can sign extensions as of July 1, while fellow star forward Mitch Marner's no-movement clause kicks in the same day.
Toronto's high-powered offence — including the so-called "Core Four" of Matthews, Nylander, Marner and John Tavares — scored just three times in the series for a team that totalled just 14 goals over its final seven playoff games, including a paltry 10 against the Panthers.
The Leafs finished the post-season 1-5 at home.
Down 2-1 in the third period without much happening, Nylander found an equalizer that materialized out of nothing.
The smooth-skating winger took a pass from John Tavares in stride and beat Bobrovsky from a tight angle upstairs with 4:37 left in regulation for his fourth to spark wild celebrations inside a frothing Scotiabank Arena — and the chaotic street party outside in Maple Leaf Square.
Florida went up 1-0 on a power play at 3:31 of the opening period when Ekblad blasted a one-timer for his first on a shot that handcuffed Woll to pull the plug on an electric rink after the Toronto netminder made a flurry of early stops.
The Leafs pushed back and had a couple of terrific chances on a pair of man advantages, but couldn't solve Bobrovsky.