Panthers lose to Maple Leafs in OT, fail to clinch playoff berth

The Florida Panthers missed an opportunity to clinch a Stanley Cup Playoff berth in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Monday.

Florida would have clinched a berth with a regulation or overtime victory after the New York Islanders lost 5-2 at the Washington Capitals on Monday. The Panthers lead the Islanders by one point and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have one game in hand, by two points for the first wild card from the Eastern Conference.
"You hoped you could get to that last game and have a chance," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "You come out and you judge yourself by your performance and your preparation, and it was really, really good. We played a [heck] of a game."
Brandon Montour scored for the Panthers (42-31-8), who had won six in a row. Alex Lyon made 23 saves.
"If we bring that effort, that's all you can hope for," Lyon said. "I guess my philosophy is just bring your best and let the chips fall where they may. If we bring that, we have nothing to be disappointed about. If we bring it again like that, it's going to make us successful."

John Tavares scored on a breakaway 22 seconds into overtime, and Auston Matthews scored his 40th goal of the season for the Maple Leafs (48-21-11), who have already clinched second in the Atlantic Division. Ilya Samsonov made 45 saves.
Tavares won it at the end of a 2:26 shift after Samsonov stopped Matthew Tkachuk's one-timer on a 2-on-1.
"I thought in terms of battling and being committed to the job tonight, nobody exemplified it better than Ilya," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "He was awesome."
Montour tied it 1-1 at 9:36 of the third period with a shot from the slot off a pass from Carter Verhaeghe.
"We have all the confidence in this lineup," Montour said. "It would have been nice to get that extra point, but we can't dwell on that right now. We recover these next two days, and we'll come play hard against Carolina here at home (on Thursday) and see what we can do."
Matthews gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 17:47 of the second period when he tipped Mitchell Marner's shot from the point.

"You'd like to win this game in regulation, but it is a desperate team on the other side," Keefe said. "I thought we did a nice job. We made that one mistake in the third period and they scored on it, but aside from that, we really didn't give them very much. There wasn't much happening up until that point."
Toronto forward Matthew Knies, who was selected in the second round (No. 57) of the 2021 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut after signing a three-year, entry-level contract on Sunday. He had one hit and one block in 13:09 of ice time.
"I was really impressed," Tavares said of Knies. "It's not an easy situation to come into."
NOTES: The Maple Leafs signed Ontario Hockey League goalie Nick Chenard to an amateur tryout agreement prior to the game so he could serve as the backup to Samsonov. … Matthews became the first player in Toronto history to score at least 40 goals in four consecutive seasons. … Montour has 16 goals this season, which is tied with Jason Garrison (2011-12) and Aaron Ekblad (2017-18) for the most by a defenseman in Florida history. Montour has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) during a seven-game point streak.