The Toronto Maple Leafs could have coasted into the playoffs with a big victory against the Florida Panthers, but as always, they lost the biggest game of the season.
The Florida Panthers were clearly the more desperate and physical team on Tuesday night, winning 3-1 at home. There was an empty-netter, so the result was closer than the score would suggest, but if you watched the game, the Panthers probably should have won 7-1.
Before we get into the negatives of this match-up, I guess we can chat about the positives. All signs point towards Anthony Stolarz being the team's Game 1 starter in a few weeks, but Joseph Woll is doing everything he can to change that narrative.
After posting a 29-save perfromance against the Anaheim Ducks on a back-to-back, Woll backed that performance up by stopping 34 of 36 shots, allowing just two goals against the Panthers. Florida outshot the Leafs 36-18 and it felt like the Leafs were in their own end all night, so Woll did a marvelous job keeping this game close.
The eventual game-winning goal was a silly goal and unfortunate play by Morgan Rielly behind the net, which Woll never saw coming, so although he allowed that second goal, I wouldn't put much blame on him. On the other end of the ice, Sergei Bobrovsky barely broke a sweat, as the Leafs were only able to get 18 shots on net, making his night very easy. (stats nhl.com).
Toronto Maple Leafs are too soft for the Panthers; Play the Lightning tonight
Losing a regular season game against the Panthers isn't the biggest deal in the world, but the way they lost is concerning - they were soft.
This has been the biggest issue with this team for years and the fact that they haven't solved it is frustrating. This is a veteran team who added big physical defensemen, but for some reason, they play soft in the biggest moments.
The one thing that you can control every night is your competitiveness and effort level, and if the Leafs can't bring that in the biggest game of the year,, then how are we to expect that they bring it in two weeks?
Head coach Craig Berube summed it up perfectly saying "They wanted it more than us" which is so concerning. I feel like we never see the Leafs being the team that wanted it more than their opponent and are always on the losing end, as a result.
I can't figure out who this team is or what this postseason will bring because every night feels different. One night their top-six looks like the best in the NHL scoring multiple goals, while the next night Marner, Matthews and Nylander are registering one shot in the biggest game of the year.
We'll see what happens tonight in Tampa Bay, but this was an awful game for the blue-and-white.