Maple Leafs' Keefe rues 'baffling' start to 2nd period in Game 2 loss

The Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves in a 0-2 hole after dropping Game 2 of their second-round series against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. Head coach Sheldon Keefe pointed to an abysmal start to the second period as the main source of his team's undoing.

"Disappointing. Baffling," Keefe said after Toronto's 3-2 defeat, per Sports Illustrated's David Alter. "We didn't make those mistakes one time in the last series."

Toronto entered the middle frame with a 2-1 lead, but the Panthers changed that in a hurry with two goals in the opening 1:06 of the period.

First, captain Aleksander Barkov capitalized on a turnover by William Nylander to strike just 19 seconds into the stanza.

Defenseman Gustav Forsling scored 47 seconds later to give the Panthers the lead as the Maple Leafs failed to clear the puck out of their zone.

The game would stay locked 3-2 as Toronto was unable to solve goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky - who surrendered two quick goals in the first five minutes of the matchup - for the remainder of the contest.

Bobrovsky made 35 stops on 37 shots and saved 1.82 goals above expected at all strengths in Game 2, according to Natural Stat Trick. He was similarly stellar in the series' opening game, in which he stopped 34 of 36 shots.

The veteran is handily winning the goaltending battle in Round 2, but Maple Leafs netminder Ilya Samsonov made it clear he's unfazed by his fellow countryman.

"I don't give a f--k," Samsonov said Thursday when asked if he felt he has to match Bobrovsky's strong play, per Sportsnet. "It doesn't matter to me. I'm doing my work, he's doing his work."

The Panthers were much more appreciative of Bobrovsky's performance, who has won five straight playoff games.

"I think you need your goaltender to win you a game every series, and he did that tonight," bench boss Paul Maurice said, according to team beat reporter Jameson Olive.

Game 3 is set for Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET as the series shifts to Sunrise.