Stanley Cup playoffs live updates: Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs, Game 1

The Panthers won the Battle of Florida. The Maple Leafs won the Battle of Ontario.

Now, it’s the Battle of the Atlantic.

The Panthers and Maple Leafs begin their best-of-7 Stanley Cup playoffs second-round series at 8 p.m. Monday from Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

For Florida, a trip to a third consecutive Eastern Conference final (and hopefully a third Stanley Cup Final) is on the line. For Toronto, a chance to advance beyond the second round for the first time since 2002 is at stake.

Follow along throughout the game for live updates, news, analysis and commentary.

Panthers score with net empty

Sam Bennett scored after the Panthers sent Sergei Bobrovsky to the bench for an extra attacker.

It’s 5-4 Toronto with 1:53 left to play.

Leafs back up by two

After a couple solid penalty kills and some timely saves by Sergei Bobrovsky, the Maple Leafs went back up by two goals when Matthew Knies scored on a breakaway with six minutes left in regulation.

It’s 5-3 Toronto. That just might do it.

So, um, we have a game

Uvis Balinskis scored his first career NHL playoff goal to put the Panthers within a goal, 4-3, with 15:30 left in regulation.

Panthers chip away

Eetu Luostarinen scored 1:39 into the third period to cut Florida’s deficit to 4-2.

Anthony Stolarz update

From the Maple Leafs: Goaltender Anthony Stolarz “remains under evaluation” and will not return to the game.

Third period about to begin

Joseph Woll remains in net for the Maple Leafs as the third period gets underway.

Florida, down 4-1, will need to attack the net hard if they want any chance of a comeback.

Goalie change for Toronto

Anthony Stolarz is out of the game. Going to the room. He appeared to get hurt earlier in the second period after taking an elbow from Sam Bennett.

Joseph Woll is now in net for the Maple Leafs.

It’s 4-1 Leafs

Chris Tanev padded Toronto’s lead to 4-1 with a shot from the point that trickled past Sergei Bobrovsky.

12:20 left in the second.

Not much early in the second

The Panthers look much more composed and like themselves so far in the second period but it’s been a relatively quiet frame so far.

Each team has killed off a penalty. Florida has an early 5-2 edge in shots on goal in the frame.

Aaaaaand the Leafs get another goal

Just 19 seconds after Florida scored its first goal, Toronto found the back of the net again with Morgan Reilly scoring on a 2-on-1 rush against Niko Mikkola. William Nylander had the assist, giving him three points in the period.

3-1 Leafs with 2:44 left in the first.

In a word: Yikes.

Panthers score on the power play

Defenseman Seth Jones broke up the early shutout bid with a power-play goal from the point.

Florida is now down just 2-1 with 3:03 left in the first.

Nylander scores again

The Maple Leafs went up 2-0 on William Nylander’s second goal of the game, which came off a rebound of an Oliver Ekman-Larsson shot before beating Sergei Bobrovsky up close.

There’s 7:09 left in the first period.

Panthers look sloppy early

This hasn’t been the prettiest start to a game for the Panthers.

In addition to giving up the early goal, Florida has just looked disjointed throughout the first 10 minutes. Their first power play attempt was rough, with Seth Jones having a pair of sloppy giveaways and the offense not generating much.

They’ll need to correct this quickly.

Leafs score in opening minute

It took just 33 seconds for the Toronto Maple Leafs to get on the board, with William Nylander firing a wide-angle shot from the right circle that got past Sergei Bobrovsky. John Tavares screened Bobrovsky on the shot.

1-0 Toronto over Florida.

Pregame lines and pairings

The Panthers’ lines and pairings during warmups…

Forward lines

Carter Verhaeghe-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart

Evan Rodrigues-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Brad Marchand

AJ Greer-Nico Sturm-Jesper Boqvist

Defense pairs

Gustav Forsling-Seth Jones

Niko Mikkola-Dmitry Kulikov

Uvis Balinskis-Nate Schmidt

Goaltenders

Sergei Bobrovsky

Vitek Vanecek

Meanwhile, Toronto’s lines and pairings for Game 1 are as follows…

Forward lines

Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner

Max Pacioretty-John Tavares-William Nylander

Bobby McMann-Max Domi-Pontus Holmberg

Steven Lorentz-Scott Laughton-Calle Jarnkrok

Defense pairs

Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev

Morgan Rielly-Brandon Carlo

Simon Benoit-Olvier Ekman-Larsson

Goaltenders

Anthony Stolarz

Joseph Woll

Series schedule

▪ Game 1: Tonight

▪ Game 2: Wednesday, 7 p.m., ESPN, Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena

▪ Game 3: Friday, 7 p.m., TNT, truTV, Max, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena

▪ Game 4: Sunday, May 11, 7:30 p.m., TBS, truTV, Max, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena

▪ Game 5 (if necessary): Wednesday, May 14, TBD time, ESPN, Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena

▪ Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, May 16, TBD time, TNT, truTV, Max, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena

▪ Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, May 18, TBD time, TNT, Max, Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena

Pregame reading

Need to catch up ahead of Game 1? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past few days.

▪ Panthers showcase all the traits of a Stanley Cup contender in series win over Lightning

▪ ‘He got rewarded’: Panthers forward has career day in series-clinching win over Lightning

▪ Panthers duo joins rare company as teammates to be finalists for Selke Trophy

▪ Panthers-Maple Leafs series is also a matchup between Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz

▪ Tkachuk wasn’t 100 percent in Round 1. Panthers’ depth allows them to manage his time

▪ How Nate Schmidt found his ‘love for the game’ again with the Florida Panthers

▪ They helped Florida win a Stanley Cup last year. Now, they want to knock out the Panthers

Stanley Cup playoffs live updates: Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs, Game 1

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