Panthers rout Maple Leafs in Toronto, can clinch series at home Friday

Jesper Boqvist has not been one of the Florida Panthers’ main players in the postseason, playing an average of about seven minutes in the seven playoff games he played in entering Wednesday night’s Game 5.

But with Evan Rodrigues out due to an injury he sustained in Florida’s Game 4 win, Boqvist got the call to play alongside captain Aleksander Barkov and top scorer Sam Reinhart. Boqvist matched the stars’ play, scoring his first career playoff goal as the Panthers rolled to a resounding 6-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, taking a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Florida has a chance to clinch the series in Game 6 at home on Friday.

The Panthers peppered Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll in the first period, while Toronto rarely threatened Sergei Bobrovsky in the first 10 minutes. Bobrovsky, with help from defenseman Gustav Forsling, stopped the Maple Leafs’ best early chance, stopping a William Nylander breakaway.

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad opened the scoring, notching his fifth consecutive game with a point and scoring after a flurry of shots in front of the Maple Leafs’ net 14:38 into the first period.

The Panthers’ defensemen provided more offense in the second period, as a Dmitry Kulikov shot deflected off Scott Laughton’s stick and past Joseph Woll to put Florida up 2-0. Boqvist scored the third goal off a pass from Reinhart, and the Panthers pushed the lead further with a slapshot goal by defenseman Niko Mikkola.

A.J. Greer kept the unlikely-scorer theme going, putting Florida ahead 5-0 with his first career playoff goal. The Panthers’ first five different goal-scorers on Wednesday scored only 31 goals through the whole regular season.

Sam Bennett, Florida’s leading goal-scorer in the postseason so far, added a third-period goal for good measure, giving the Panthers a 6-0 lead with a power-play goal.

Florida’s defense picked up where it left off in Game 4. The Panthers had 14 shots on goal to the Maple Leafs’ five, and Florida had 33 shot attempts to Toronto’s 10. Although Toronto caught up in shots, they could not find the back of the net.

Bobrovsky nearly notched his second consecutive shutout, but Toronto’s Nick Robertson scored with 1:06 left in the third period. The goal ended a 143-minute scoring drought for the Maple Leafs.

This story will be updated.