Leafs will face surprising Panthers in next round. Bye bye Bruins

As soon as upon a time of their lengthy storied historical past, if the Maple Leafs have been spending lengthy stretches of April and Could within the Sunshine State it meant they’d suffered a disastrously early finish to their season and have been already hitting the golf course.

However the early Nineties introduced not one however two growth franchises to Florida, and now Toronto’s path to its first convention remaining since 2002 will undergo a second best-of-seven sequence in opposition to a Florida-based workforce.

In a relatively large shock, the Leafs face the Panthers within the subsequent spherical of the Stanley Cup playoffs after Florida registered the most important playoff upset by seedings of the salary-cap period by surprising the Boston Bruins in seven video games. The Panthers, who completed 43 factors behind Boston within the common season, completed off the Bruins with a 4-3 extra time triumph in Sport 7 on Sunday night time.

Boston seemed set to advance after erasing a two-goal Panthers lead. However Florida’s Brandon Montour tied Sport 7 with a minute left within the third interval, after which Carter Verhaeghe, who was drafted by the Leafs, received it at 8:35 of extra time to finish the Bruins collapse.

Boston led the sequence three video games to at least one earlier than dropping three straight, and will have despatched captain Patrice Bergeron into retirement on a down be aware.

After permitting solely barely greater than two objectives a sport throughout a 65-win common season, the Bruins surrendered 11 objectives to the Panthers within the remaining two video games.

The Leafs, in fact, registered their first playoff triumph in 19 years on Saturday night time by eliminating the Tampa Bay Lightning. They beat Florida in three of 4 conferences throughout the common season, and can have home-ice benefit for the sequence. The golf equipment have by no means earlier than met within the post-season.

The Panthers really seemed accountable for Sport 7 within the second interval, constructing a 2-0 lead and eliciting a smattering of boos from the Boston crowd. However a power-play purpose late within the second by Boston veteran David Krejci made it 2-1 and acquired the rink buzzing once more. Then one other extra-strength rating by Tyler Bertuzzi tied the sport 55 seconds into the third with a nifty deflection off a Dmitry Orlov level shot.

Then David Pastrnák put the Bruins forward at 4:11 of the third, and it seemed like the house workforce would be capable of carry that margin to victory. As a substitute, Montour tied it, then Matthew Tkachuk received a battle for the puck behind the Boston internet eight minutes into extra time, and relayed it in entrance to Verhaeghe. The 42-goal scorer ripped a wrist shot previous an ideal Tkachuk display screen and over goalie Jeremy Swayman’s left shoulder to remove the Bruins.

As a substitute of considering their seventeenth playoff assembly with the Bruins, the Leafs will now put together for a hungry Florida workforce that gained momentum steadily within the second half of the season.

Whereas the Leafs did dominate the Panthers within the common season, the second-last assembly resulted in a Florida OT win, with Montour scoring the winner. He has gone on to be a serious drive within the playoffs, with 5 objectives in opposition to the Bruins.

On the midway mark of the season, the Panthers have been 18-19-4 and sat six factors out of a playoff place after successful the Presidents’ Trophy because the NHL’s greatest common season workforce the 12 months earlier than.

Within the second half of this season, nonetheless, the Panthers began to jell below head coach Paul Maurice and registered a 24-13-4 document to seize a playoff spot. They may possible be a really robust out, though incompetent penalty killing allowed 11 Boston power-play objectives and practically price them the sequence.

Maurice, in the meantime, may be a secret weapon in and of himself.

The previous Leafs coach is now 4-0 lifetime in Sport 7 contests, together with two with the Carolina Hurricanes, one with the Winnipeg Jets and now one with Florida. He took over the Panthers this season after leaving Winnipeg abruptly in December 2021, saying the Jets wanted “a brand new voice.”

In his final go to to Scotiabank Enviornment with the Panthers this season, he blew a gasket on the bench in a scene replayed throughout the continent on sports activities spotlight reels. However his workforce received that sport, and Maurice is aware of nicely methods to navigate the voracious Toronto media marketplace for a sequence like this one.

Similar to the Tampa sequence, this might function a matchup of Russian goalies. Ilya Samsonov began all six video games in opposition to the Lightning and carried out brilliantly within the clinching sport. Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, in the meantime, backed up Alex Lyon to begin the sequence in opposition to Boston, however relieved Lyon in Sport 3 and outplayed his Boston counterparts the remainder of the way in which.

Samsonov and the Leafs blueline corps should put together for the irritating crease presence of Tkachuk, who has starred in these playoffs.

On paper, the Panthers look much less formidable than Tampa, however the Leafs will nonetheless require one other sturdy efficiency from their core of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly. That group, ripped prior to now for being ineffective within the playoffs, mixed for 42 factors in opposition to the Lightning.

Will the Leafs be an much more formidable playoff opponent after lastly getting previous the primary spherical? Is Florida a way more harmful workforce than its document suggests?

It’s a sequence no one anticipated. These are very often the very best form.

Damien Cox is a former Star sports activities reporter who’s a present freelance contributing columnist primarily based in Toronto. Comply with him on Twitter: @DamoSpin

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