Toronto dropped both games in Florida, maintains home-ice advantage in Eastern 2nd Round
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SUNRISE, Fla. — Outhustled. Outmuscled. Outshot. Outskated. Outplayed.
Outclassed.
Simply out-everythinged.
That, in a nutshell, was the story for the Toronto Maple Leafs in their 2-0 loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday.
And if the Maple Leafs can’t change the momentum being built up by the defending Stanley Cup champions right now, they’ll be out of the postseason before they know it.
Yes, there still is room for optimism. Yes, Toronto still holds home-ice advantage with the best-of-7 series tied 2-2. Yes, it’s down to a best-of-3 matchup, but it’s still anyone’s battle to win.
Having said that, the alarming aspect of the Maple Leafs’ loss from a Toronto standpoint was that it was self-inflicted as much as anything, spoiling an outstanding performance from goalie Joseph Woll.
From four minor penalties during the first period, to slow puck movement in the defensive zone that allowed Florida’s forecheck to feast, it was an implosion that the Maple Leafs never could recover from.
“We let off the gas,” forward Matthew Knies candidly said. “We took dumb penalties. It was all our doing.”
It was, as Knies astutely pointed out, a recipe for disaster.
Discussing Game 4 between the Panthers and Maple Leafs
With Game 5 scheduled for Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN), the Maple Leafs will have two full days between games to figure out how to get back on track.
And change the optics of the series while they’re at it.
Having won the first two games on home ice, Toronto had the chance to stagger the defending champions with an overtime goal in Game 3 on Friday, a scenario which would have seen it take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.
Instead, it was a goal from Brad Marchand that gave Florida a 5-4 victory and narrowed the Maple Leafs’ lead in the series to 2-1. It also gave the Panthers a chance to even the matchup with a win in Game 4 on Sunday.
Which is exactly what they did.
For the first time in the series, Florida looked like the team that has been to the Stanley Cup Final two consecutive years, one that swarms to the puck, keeps opposing shooters to the outside, and is backstopped by two-time Vezina Trophy winning goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 23 saves for the shutout.
On the other hand, Toronto looked like the team that had won just one Stanley Cup Playoff series since 2004 prior to this season, the same one that entered this postseason having scored two goals or fewer in 13 of its previous 14 playoff games.
In a nutshell, we’ve seen this game before.
And it’s up to the Maple Leafs to prove that the narrative of “same old Leafs” isn’t legitimate this time around.
At least encouragement can be gleaned from Woll’s game. He finished with 35 saves and kept his team in it after Carter Verhaeghe scored a power-play goal to give Florida a 1-0 lead at 15:45 of the first period.
Indeed, Woll’s heroics kept it a one-goal game and gave his team a chance until Panthers center Sam Bennett provided an insurance goal at 12:09 of the third.
“Very rarely it’s going to be a walk in the park,” Woll said. “We’re expecting a long series. I think every time you go into a series with a team you expect a long series, and it’s going to go back and forth with the momentum shifts.”
In order for Toronto to get it to swing its way again, it would help if Auston Matthews regained his scoring touch.
The Maple Leafs captain has been battling through an upper-body injury for months and scored an NHL career-low 33 goals during the regular season. He’s understandably taken a number of maintenance days between games and opted not to take part in the morning skate Sunday, yet he has grinded through any discomfort to play in each of Toronto’s 10 playoff games this spring.
Still, with zero goals and three assists in this series thus far, Toronto would get a significant boost if he somehow could start finding the back of the net, even if takes a lucky bounce in front of the net to get him going.
“I mean, the chances have been there,” Matthews said. “I’ve just got to do a better job of bearing down on them.”
Much like the entire team needs to do from a discipline standpoint.
“When you spend half the game in the [penalty] box, it’s hard to generate momentum,” he said. “It’s hard to generate energy and life for the bench.”
The Maple Leafs have until Wednesday to get those back.
Otherwise, a series they looked to have in the palm of their hand after the first two games might just slip away.
