Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Florida Panthers: It’s a 5 Game Series

The Toronto Maple Leafs are facing the Florida Panthers in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Florida Panthers somehow managed to come back from 3-1 to defeat the Boston Bruins, while the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t have to play a Game 7 this year. What type of alternate universe are we living in right now?

It still feels like a dream that Toronto is moved onto the second round, but it feels like an even bigger dream that they don’t have to face the Bruins.

Over the last 10 years, the Bruins have been the Leafs biggest playoff foe, defeating them three times, all in Game 7. Now that Boston is nowhere to be seen, the Leafs will face a much less inferior team in the Panthers.

Although Florida had 19 less regular season points and went 0-3-1 against the Leafs, they shouldn’t be taken lightly. As shown by that miracle comeback against Boston, they’re resilient and have a very strong team.

They had a terrible start to the regular season but really turned it on near the end, so their regular season record doesn’t reflect the type of team they are.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Panthers: Who You Got?

If there’s one thing I know about this series, Matthew Tkachuk will be the most hated man in Toronto within 10 seconds of the opening puck-drop. When it comes to playoff performers, he’s the type of player that every team would dream to have.

The power-forward had five goals and 11 points in seven games against Boston, but more importantly was a pest to play against. He’s the best of both worlds in the playoffs. He can get under the skin of the opponent with his mouth and his stick.

Tkachuk is clearly the player that the Toronto Maple Leafs should be afraid of, but besides that, the Leafs should be able to win this series. Overall, their roster is deeper at every aspect. Their offensive talent is stronger, defense is deeper and their goaltender is better.

The Panthers have two goalies in Alex Lyon and Sergei Bobrovsky, but they weren’t particularly great against Boston. Bobrovsky has all of the individual hardware, but he hasn’t lived up to those expectations in quite some time, so Toronto shouldn’t be intimidated.

In seven games, Florida allowed three or more goals every game, so this benefits Toronto tremendously. They’ve had issues winning the 2-1 playoff games in the past, but have always shown that they can keep up offensively in a high-scoring battle.

This is going to sound crazy, but I can’t see a world where the Toronto maple Leafs lose this series. The Panthers had a miracle comeback and that’s going to stop against Toronto. This is a different Toronto team and in two weeks, they’re going to be in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 21 years.

Prediction: Leafs in 5