Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 17: Stars bounce back to tie series, Leafs struggle to beat Bobrovsky and drop both games at home

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 17: Stars bounce back to tie series, Leafs struggle to beat Bobrovsky and drop both games at home
Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Game 2 action is underway, and tonight featured two teams down 1-0 at home looking to at least salvage their home stint. Will they get the job done, or will they face a daunting task on the road? Spoiler alert: we get one of each. Let’s dive into what happened in tonight’s games.

Bobrovsky stands tall as Panthers win 3-2 and take 2-0 series lead to Florida

Anyone who thought the Toronto Maple Leafs had exorcised all of their playoff demons has been in for a surprise so far. While the Leafs haven’t played terrible by any stretch, the bounces certainly haven’t gone their way, as every mistake of theirs seems to be in the back of the net, while they’ve struggled to beat Sergei Bobrovsky through two games so far.

It didn’t look that way to start, as they exploded with two goals in the first 5:10 from Alexander Kerfoot and Ryan O’Reilly, and they were controlling the play decisively. But, unfortunately a few hiccups costed them, with Anton Lundell scoring midway through the first to draw it within one, and then Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling scoring within the first 1:06 of the second period to tie and take the 3-2 lead.

The Leafs struggled in the second to generate much of anything, and looked lifeless after the blown lead. When the third period came around they started to get some better chances, but unfortunately for them, Bobrovsky was up to the task, and that 3-2 score held up as the final score. Lundell was the lone multi-point player in the game, while Bobrovsky stopped 35 of 37 shots for the win.

Stars depth shines in 4-2 win to tie series

The Seattle Kraken’s depth has been the biggest talking point of this team, and it was a big reason why they upset the Colorado Avalanche in the first round. If the Dallas Stars wanted to win this series, they were going to need their depth to step up, because Game 1 showed that even one player scoring four goals wasn’t going to be enough against this Kraken squad.

Well, even though Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson were held to a combined one point, they won 4-2, so I’d say their depth came through in this game. The action didn’t start until the second period, as Philipp Grubauer proved to be tough in the first period, but Wyatt Johnston and Evgenii Dadonov broke through in the second to take a 2-0 lead.

Tye Kartye put the Kraken back within one a couple minutes later, but Joe Pavelski made sure to keep it at a two goal lead before the second period ended with his fifth of the series already, and Tyler Seguin scored midway through the third to put this game out of reach with a 4-1 lead. Jordan Eberle made it interesting with 3:28 left, but Jake Oettinger was a tough goalie to beat four times, stopping 25 of the 27 shots he faced in the win. The Stars take it 4-2, and tie the series as it heads back to Seattle.

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