RECAP: Panthers pick up point in penalty-filled game against Maple Leafs

In a game full of questionable calls, the Florida Panthers, who were playing on the second half of a back-to-back set on the road, endured seven penalty kills but still managed to pick up a key point in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.
"I think we hung in there pretty good," said Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, who voiced his displeasure to reporters with how the game was called after the loss. "I'm proud of our group."
Owning a 5-2-1 record over their last eight games, the Panthers now sit at 21-20-5.

"I feel like we've been finding our identity a little bit," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "We had it at the beginning of the year, but then a little slump after that. I think the last 2-3 weeks we've been finding how to play as a team, how to work really hard and play smart."
Opening the scoring less than two minutes after the puck dropped, Carter Verhaeghe beat Matt Murry with a blistering wrist shot from the right circle to put the Panthers up 1-0 at 1:52. But just 46 seconds later, Dryden Hunt answered for the Maple Leafs with a goal to make it 1-1 at 2:38.
Netting his second shorthanded goal of the season, Anton Lundell, who has really reached a new level as of late, put the Panthers back on top when he followed up on a breakaway attempt from Barkov and sent the ensuing rebound past Murray to make it 2-1 at 12:34.
On their fourth power play of the first period, the Maple Leafs got the game knotted back up when Alexander Kerfoot backhanded a rebound past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 2-2 at 15:10.
Giving the lead back to the Panthers heading into the first intermission, Radko Gudas fired a point shot that went off the end boards and right onto the stick of Josh Mahura, who then one-timed the puck past Murray from beyond the left circle to make it 3-2 at 18:04.
"I just stepped out, tried to get it on net, and it went in," Mahura said.
Chasing Murray from the contest early in the second period, Barkov collected a pass from Brandon Montour, walked the puck down to the top of the right circle and sniped a wicked wrister off the post and into the net on the power play to extend Florida's lead to 4-2 at 1:41.

Relieving Murray, Ilya Samsonov went on to stop all 11 shots he faced for Toronto.
Benefitting from another questionable call, the Maple Leafs earned a power play -- their seventh of the game -- late in the period when Radko Gudas was called for charging. Taking advantage, Auston Matthews then scored to cut Toronto's deficit down to 4-3 with 2.1 seconds left on the clock.
"Radko Gudas hits as a clean a hit as you can level -- stick on stick, body on body," said Maurice, who picked out that penalty as one of the more egregious calls. "A charge? They're both going in the same direction. No problem with the guys going to the net at all. That's hockey."
Less than a minute into the third period, William Nylander missed out an opportunity to tie the game for Toronto when he missed the net on a penalty shot. Making up for that miss just a few minutes later, however, the then deflected the game-tying goal past Bobrovsky to make it 4-4 at 5:59.
Helping the Panthers secure a key point, Bobrovsky made eight saves in the third period -- including a stunning wrap-around stop on John Tavares -- to get the game to the extra frame.
At 1:53 of overtime, Nylander got behind the defense and tucked in a goal to win it for Toronto.
"Back-to-back in Toronto on the road, I thought we played a really hard-fought game," Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. "We didn't quit at any point. I'm really proud of our team and the way we played."

CATS QUOTES

"I think the biggest thing is just him telling me to play my game and not having any non-decision making in it. I think the biggest thing for us is doing things, doing them hard and making sure we're on the right side of the puck."- Josh Mahura on playing with Radko Gudas
"A lot of resilience. We come out and compete every night. We prepare well. The coaches are giving us the tools to win, and we're executing at a higher consistency than we did earlier in the season." - Aaron Ekblad on Florida's resurgence in the second half
"Even though this is by far our most difficult stretch, the room feels good. It's a little tired in there today, but it feels good. Our work-level and our compete-level is much higher than it was in the month of December." - Paul Maurice on the Panthers' level of play in January

CATS NOTES

• Gustav Forsling skated a team-high 5:44 on the penalty kill.
  - Matthew Tkachuk led the Panthers with a 60.71 CF% at 5-on-5, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
  - Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 high-danger saves.
  - Radko Gudas led Florida in hits (9) and blocked shots (4).
  - Aleksander Barkov extended his point streak to five games.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Panthers (21-20-5) will close out their three-game road trip with a matchup against the Montreal Canadiens (19-23-3) at Bell Centre on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.