Playoffs Round 2: Panthers vs. Maple Leafs

[Joe S.]

I think this will be a tighter series than most people are expecting. Florida is a tough opponent, for sure, and the Leafs are the underdogs - but only barely, I’d say. This is really another coin flip series for the Leafs. If a few things break right, they could absolutely win. They just really need to not have any nights like game 5.

Before the playoffs started, a lot of the chatter or analysis around Florida and TB as opponents leaned toward a preference for TB, as many said, they are very similar to the leafs style and skill wise.

Well Florida pretty much wiped the floor with TB. So I’m not sure how we can say that the leafs line up any better to FL than TB did.

it’s hard to feel any kind of confidence for this round. For me anyway.

 

[Ozzie]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1918693890854359088

Their brain cells are all devoted to hockey

ICYMI
This is an accessory by the amulet brand that Tavares and Domi are hawking (a sticker for phones to align electromagnetic waves)

My assistant who is a pro at health has been pushing me to get EMF protection for 2 years now, and I ended up getting the "amulet" about 90 days ago.

I can't say for sure it works..... definitely cutting out blue tooth headphones helped a lot.........but so long as Leafs keep winning... I support the Amulet!

 

[Redleaf]

Everyone counted them out leading into game six against Ottawa …

They proved us wrong and they WON.

I’m getting the same vibes for this series. The more fans and media that predict a loss in this series with Florida …the better!

All this does is takes away pressure from the Leafs and puts a chip on their shoulder to prove everybody wrong.

Go Leafs Go!!!!

 

[Ozzie]

I'm trying to find positive aspects of this coming series.

The Panthers Leafs 2023 series were almost all 1 goal games.

This is the first season where Leafs have played with the discipline and system where they consistently find a way to win 1 goal games.

 

[bustaheims]

Before the playoffs started, a lot of the chatter or analysis around Florida and TB as opponents leaned toward a preference for TB, as many said, they are very similar to the leafs style and skill wise.

Well Florida pretty much wiped the floor with TB. So I’m not sure how we can say that the leafs line up any better to FL than TB did.

it’s hard to feel any kind of confidence for this round. For me anyway.

I think Tampa was a bit of a paper tiger by playoff terms. Vasi has his third straight subpar 1st round and no one on their roster other than Guentzel performed particularly well. And, even with that, Florida didn’t generate a ton at even-strength. They feasted on the power play, but, as we know, power plays become harder to come by as the playoffs get deeper. Bobrovsky wasn’t particularly tested, and I suspect that won’t be the case against the Leafs.

 

[Chris]

The last time the two teams met the Panthers made the Leafs look like a beer league team, and that was without several key players in the lineup. Overall I think the Leafs are built much better this year to compete with Florida, especially defensively, but it's still a really tough matchup. We'll see how it plays out, but I don't think things will go too well if the Leafs play too much rope-a-dope. They got away with it against Ottawa but this is a whole different level. You can argue that the Leafs defend the slot and block a ton of shots, but give a good team large amounts of zone time and shot attempts and bad things can happen. Screens, tips, deflections off defenders.

That said, I'll be watching with great interest to see how the Leafs approach this. In particular, how do the (dreaded) "core" guys fare in what is probably going to be a hard-hitting, dirty series. Do they rise to the challenge or shrink to the edges of the rink.