Toronto Maple Leafs Didn’t Take Advantage of Opportunities in Game 1

Game 1 of Round 2 was a lot more exciting than Game 1 of Round 1 two weeks ago, but the same result happened for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Whether you lose 7-3 or 4-2, the Toronto Maple Leafs are down 1-0 to start a series, again.

If you break down the game, the team didn’t play particularly bad. However, the biggest issue was that they didn’t take advantage of their opportunities. The Florida Panthers’ undiscipline actions gave the Leafs five power-play’s, yet they weren’t able to score one.

Throughout the regular season, the Leafs had the second best power-play, while the Panthers had the 22nd best penalty-kill in the NHL. With that big of a gap, Toronto should have scored a minimum of one power-play goal, but instead were left empty.

Heading into the game, the Panthers still had question-marks about who would start in-net, but Paul Maurice clearly picked the right player as Sergei Bobrovsky was brilliant. We all know that he’s a former Vezina Trophy winner and has had big playoff moments before, but as Leafs fans, we hoped that he was over the edge.

At 34-years-old, Bobrovsky’s game has dipped over the years, but he looked like his old self on Tuesday night against Toronto.

Toronto Maple eafs Lose Game 1 Again, At Home

After chasing home-ice all season, the Leafs have once again lost that advantage after Game 1. They eventually won that advantage back against Tampa Bay by winning three road games last series, but that’ll be a tough task to replicate against Florida.

After thinking that this series would be cake-walk prior to starting, I’ve now changed my mindset. Leafs in five seemed like the appropriate pick because they’re deeper in every position, but now that may not be the case.

There’s an argument to be made that Matthew Tkachuk is the best forward, Brandon Montour is the best defenseman and Bobrovsky is the best goalie. As shown in Game 1, Tkachuk had three assists, Montour had a huge third-period goal and Bobrovsky stopped 34 of 36 shots, proving to be the difference-maker.

The Panthers are a way better team then their regular season record would suggest and the Leafs need to be a better job getting in Bobrovsky’s net, similar to how they were able to with Andrei Vasilevskiy.

As much as I thought this could be Leafs in five, I’m thinking we’re in for the long haul and we could facing another Leafs Game 7 playoff game this year.