The Florida Panthers have taken their first lead of the series.
In Game 5 of Round 2 on Wednesday night, the defending champion Panthers blanked the Toronto Maple Leafs 6–1 to take a 3–2 series lead.
Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad opened the scoring in the first period, with centre Jesper Boqvist and defencemen Dmitry Kulikov and Niko Mikkola adding goals in the second. Winger A.J. Greer and centre Sam Bennett scored third-period markers.
Nick Robertson, in his first game of the series, scored the Maple Leafs’ lone goal with 1:06 remaining. It marked his first of the playoffs.
Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced.
At the other end, Maple Leafs netminder Joseph Woll turned aside 20 of 25 shots before being replaced by Matt Murray after Greer made it 5–0. Murray allowed one goal on seven shots.
The series now shifts back to Sunrise, Fla., for Game 6 on Friday.
