Tavares made it 2-0 at 5:57. Skating in on a 3-on-2 rush, he took a pass from Max Pacioretty at the right post and skated around the net before stuffing a wraparound past the lunging glove of Bobrovsky.
Barkov cut it to 2-1 at 7:38. Following a turnover by the Maple Leafs in their own zone, Barkov took a short feed from Reinhart, cut toward the net and had his centering pass deflect in off the stick of Rielly.
Tavares responded with a power-play goal to push it to 3-1 at 2:52 of the second period. His redirection of Marner’s point shot deflected in off Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling.
“They are a good team and they pushed hard,” Tavares said. “We didn’t execute as well or play through the pressure as we have in the past. … We battled really hard in the third, got some pressure back and stayed on it. We earned the opportunity to win it in OT, just didn’t get the break today.”
Reinhart got the Panthers to within 3-2 at 4:13. He jammed a loose puck past the glove of Woll and Brandon Carlo, who was laying in the crease.
“Bounces are going to go both ways,” Reinhart said. “They got a couple early, and we got the last one. I liked the way we responded. There was no panic. There was one job to do, and that was to win and get back in this thing.”
Verhaeghe tied it 3-3 at 5:17. Sam Bennett skated in on a 2-on-1, waited out a sliding Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and sent a cross-slot pass to Verhaeghe for a tap-in.
Jonah Gadjovich gave Florida its first lead of the night, 4-3, at 15:07. Tomas Nosek skated the puck through the neutral zone, cut toward the middle, and had his shot deflect off Gadjovich’s leg before going under Woll’s blocker.
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