Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 23: Rantanen shines again, Panthers blank Leafs

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop exciting action in the NHL as we witness history in another team looking to win a championship. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop of everything that happened in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.

Rantanen has another big night in Stars win

No one is hotter than Mikko Rantanen right now. Even if you include when the Dallas Stars were shut out by the Winnipeg Jets in Game 2, he now has 17 points in his last 6 game, and has had a 3+ point night in five of those six games. Game 3 was another one of those nights, and it was needed in the Stars’ 5-2 win.

The scoring between the two teams was back-and-forth in the first two periods, with the Stars taking the lead twice, and the Jets responding both times. But when Alexander Petrovic scored early in the third on a controversial kick-in that bounced off of Connor Hellebuyck, that appeared to take the wind out of the Jets sails. Rantanen scored just 49 seconds later to make it 4-2, and then Wyatt Johnson sealed the deal later in the period. With the win, the Stars regain the series lead and go up 2-1.

Bobrovsky stops all 23 as Panthers tie series

In a series where both goalies have struggled, Game 4 was a breath of fresh air for Sergei Bobrovsky and Joseph Woll. Bobrovsky stopped all 23 shots that the Toronto Maple Leafs sent his way, while Joseph Woll saved 35 of the Florida Panthers‘ 37 shots in the game, and with the goalies on their game, it came down to who was better in front of them.

In case the 2-0 score didn’t indicate that, it was the Panthers, particularly in the first two periods when they outshot the Leafs 29-12 and out-chanced them 20-8. The Leafs put up a bit more pressure in the third period, but it wasn’t enough to beat Bobrovsky, and the Panthers have tied the series as it goes back to Toronto.