RECAP: Maple Leafs squeeze out win over Panthers to avoid elimination

SUNRISE, Fla. -- "Nobody said it was going to be easy."

Wise words from Sergei Bobrovsky after the Panthers missed a chance to sweep their second-round series with the Maple Leafs after a 2-1 loss in Game 4 at FLA Live Arena on Wednesday.

With the Panthers still leading the series 3-1, the action will now shift back to Toronto for Game 5.

"They are a good team," said Bobrovsky, who looked rock-solid while making 23 saves in defeat. "The series goes on. It was a great game. It was so much fun. The atmosphere was great."

Following a scoreless first period, the Maple Leafs were blessed with some puck luck early in the second. After a pass from Michael Bunting clipped off an official, the puck ended up right in front of the net where William Nylander grabbed it and scored to put Toronto up 1-0 at 3:29.

In the waning seconds of the period, Bobrovsky denied John Tavares on a breakaway.

That was just one of his 10 high-danger saves in Game 4.

"It's unbelievable," Panthers forward Sam Reinhart said. "You can't say enough about the guy."

Extending the lead for the Maple Leafs in the third period, Mitch Marner ended his goal drought when he fired a shot from the point that slipped through a pile of traffic and into the cage to make it 2-0 at 10:03.

On the power play, the Panthers cut their deficit in half when a red-hot Reinhart dove at loose puck behind rookie Joseph Woll and poked it across the goal line to make it 2-1 at 12:13. A scoring machine in the playoffs, Reinhart has found the back of the net in five of his last seven contests.

After pulling their goaltender for the extra attacker, the Panthers threatened with a few chances to tie the game late, but couldn't muster a miracle before the final buzzer. Filling in for injured starter Ilya Samsonov, Woll, making his first-career playoff start, stopped 24 of 25 shots for Toronto.

"Each team will look at the things they did well, but then the things we need to do better," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "The offensive part of the game is where we'll try to make some corrections."

With the loss, the Panthers saw their franchise-record playoff winning streak end at six games.

"We've been living it for four months -- one day a time," Reinhart said. "We had an opportunity to win a game tonight. We were close. They're a good team over there, too. We've got another crack at it in a couple days."

CATS QUOTES

• The Panthers trailed 21-9 in blocked shots.

• Sergei Bobrovsky allowed just two goals for the fourth straight game in the series.

• Brandon Montour led the Panthers with 29:04 of ice time.

• The Panthers controlled 75% of shot attempts when Nick Cousins was on the ice at 5-on-5.

• Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart each registered six scoring chances.

• Florida's power play is operating at 28.6% in the series.

CATS NOTES

"It was a lucky bounce. It is what it is. I thought we had a good game. We compete, we fight and we played a solid defensive game." - Sergei Bobrovsky on William Nylander's flukey goal

"They played well, they played hard. There's parts of our game I didn't love. Shots are 25-25. We might have had 20 blocked and blocked about nine of theirs. That's probably the difference in the game."- Paul Maurice on Toronto's defensive approach in Game 4

"He's been doing that for a lot longer than tonight. That's what you need out of your goalie at this time of the year." - Sam Reinhart on Sergei Bobrovsky's performance

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Panthers will get their second chance to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals when they visit the Maple Leafs for Game 5 at Scotiabank Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. ET.