Mitch Marner played the hero on Wednesday night for the Maple Leafs as he scored the winner in the third period, giving Toronto a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers, along with a 2-0 series lead.
The two sides each notched a pair of goals before Leafs forward Max Domi scored with less than three minutes remaining in the second period.
Florida evened the score at 5:33 of the third when Panthers forward Antony Lundell shovelled his third goal of the playoffs past Joseph Woll.
But that score would only remain unchanged for 17 seconds, as Marner fired a shot from the boards that found its way through traffic past a surprised Sergei Bobrovsky.
After that, it was time for Woll to step up, as he slammed the door shut on the Florida, making 25 saves to collect the victory for Toronto.
Story continues below advertisement
Toronto held serve in the seven-game series, which will now shift to Sunrise, Fla., on Friday night for Game 3, where the defending Stanley Cup champions will attempt to bounce back.
Leafs fans took to social media after the game to express their joy as the team seeks its first trip to the conference final since 2002.
I cannot believe the toronto maple leafs are up 2-0 against Florida. this is incredible. go leafs
— candi 🪐✨ (@y3ar_zer0) May 8, 2025
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a 2-0 series lead in round 2, this team is UNRECOGNIZABLE from years’ past
— Michael 🇨🇦🇮🇹 (@Cheeko905) May 8, 2025
Story continues below advertisement
One fan was bold enough to risk jinxing the club by pointing out their odds.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have an 86.3% chance of winning this series vs the Florida Panthers.
That’s an unreal opportunity,
— 𝐀𝐬𝐡 🇺🇦 (@ClendelWark) May 8, 2025
It was nice for Marner to play the hero for the Leafs, as he has taken a lot of criticism from fans of his hometown club.
This is a fair take. I was one of the many fans frustrated with Matthews / Marner yesterday — and then they connected on the GWG. https://t.co/9kh3h5wHcC
— HOCKEYGD (@THEHOCKEYGD) May 8, 2025
Story continues below advertisement
Mitch Marner with a go-ahead game winning goal to put TOR up 2-0 against the big, bad Panthers
10 points in 8 games this playoffs
Not bad for “someone who isn’t built for the playoffs” #NYR
— NYR Louie ™️ (@NYRLouie) May 8, 2025
Trending Now
Woll was called upon to play for Toronto after Anthony Stolarz was injured in Game 1 in a controversial play that saw him clipped by the elbow of Sam Bennett.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The two goaltenders split time in the crease for Toronto throughout the season, so many fans were not surprised to see him in net for Toronto.
Woll has been exceptional all year, no surprise he stood on his head again last night, and completely modest with it as usual.
— bryan angus (@mummmbles) May 8, 2025
Story continues below advertisement
The Great Woll pic.twitter.com/RQnGsQprrU
— flacktheripper (@Data_Cap478) May 8, 2025
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.



