Google News Florida Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2
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In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round, the Florida Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2. Especially impressive in this match was Matthew Tkachuk, who shows how important he is to his team. His teammate Sam Bennett emphasized his importance.
"He's a force, he's a great player," -Benett said, as quoted by nhl.com "He steps up in big games and he's physical. He make plays, he scores goals and he's one of the rarest players in the NHL I would say, so I'm glad he's on our team." Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe praised the opposing team, which looked great and knew how to take advantage of mistakes.
It was seen that they have more quality in this match, but they will have to stay on the ground and be equally focused on the next challenge.
Sheldon Keefe on the game
"I thought we made mistakes, now credit to Florida because of how they played, they force you to make mistakes, but I thought we made some mistakes here tonight that we didn't necessarily make in the last series," -Sheldon Keefe said.
Carter Verhaeghe gave his team a 3:2 advantage after a great goal. "Duclair made a great play to me, and I think it's huge, anytime you get a goal at the end of the period, instead of going in tied, you go in up a goal," Verhaeghe said.
"It settled us down after the period, and you could take a deep breath." Keefe talked about that goal and how it changed the course of the match. "We give up a breakaway to really the one guy we definitely don't want to give a breakaway to," Keefe said.
"We don't want to give it to anybody, but we certainly don't want to give it to that guy. It's a big part of our plan going in is how he can jump into those holes, and that's how he scores a lot of his goals getting in behind defense. We cannot make that mistake when it's 2-2 at the end of a period. That's a tough one."
