Brad Marchand of the Florida Panthers celebrates with Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe after scoring the game winning goal against Joseph Woll of the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime to win Game Three of the Second Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Brad Marchand the OT Hero as Panthers Beat Maple Leafs 5-4 in Game 3

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Matt Nidiffer | Last updated May 9, 2025 11:06 PM ET

After making some lineup changes , the Florida Panthers finally toppled the Toronto Maple Leafs in a thriller of an overtime period in Game 3 at home, bringing the series to 2-1.

Game Recap

The Maple Leafs opened the scoring immediately, with Matthew Knies netting a goal 23 seconds into the game. Shortly afterward, John Tavares fooled Sergei Bobrovsky with a deft wraparound, bringing the scoreline to 2-0. Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov stemmed the bleeding a bit with a beauty of a goal while falling to the ice, bringing the Panthers within one. The Maple Leafs dominated at both ends throughout the first period, but the Panthers held on heading into the second, trailing by a single goal.

Tavares and the Maple Leafs picked up right where they left off in the first period by beating Bobrovsky yet again – this time via a deflection. The tide, however, seemed to quickly turn in the Panthers’ favor as they roared back to life halfway through the second period; despite a bevy of bodies in Joseph Woll’s crease, Sam Reinhart managed to put the puck past the goal line to put the Panthers on the scoreboard and bring the game back within one (after review, of course). Minutes later, the Panthers scored again via a stellar cross-crease play between Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe to tie the game up at 3-3. The Panthers’ revival continued into the end of the second period as Tomas Nosek potted their fourth goal of the evening, giving the Panthers their first lead of the game. The second period ended with the Panthers ahead in both goals (4-3) and shot totals (18-17).

The third period was marked by a lot of back-and-forth hockey; neither team could establish the dominance they had in the prior two periods. Despite good chances going in both directions, the game stayed deadlocked at 4-3 through the middle of the final frame, with the Panthers still controlling the shots column 21-18. Despite looking shaky (at best) for basically the entire series, Bobrovsky recovered most of the former glory he showcased against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Round 1. This was short-lived, however, as the Panthers’ luck began to turn back in the other direction. A soft shot from Morgan Rielly ricocheted off of Bobrovsky’s blocker into Seth Jones’ legs, and then directly into the net, tying the game back up at 4-4 and ultimately sending the game to overtime.

The overtime period began much the same as the third period; back-and-forth hockey with neither team giving an inch. Despite all of that, though, the Panthers pulled through and secured the 5-4 win in overtime via a deflection just in front of Woll courtesy of none other than trade deadline pickup Brad Marchand.