ECSF - Game 1 - Toronto Maple Leafs vs Florida Panthers - 7pm EST, ESPN

[Leonardo87]

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Florida Panthers
7pm EST - Game 1

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Panthers Projected Line up​

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Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Anthony Duclair
Nick Cousins -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Sam Reinhart
Colin White -- Eric Staal -- Zac Dalpe

Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Marc Staal -- Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura -- Radko Gudas


Sergei Bobrovsky
Alex Lyon

Scratched: Givani Smith, Mike Benning, Casey Fitzgerald, Evan Fitzpatrick
Injured: Ryan Lomberg (upper body), Patric Hornqvist (concussion)​

Leafs Projected Line up

Matthew Knies-- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Calle Jarnkrok -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Michael Bunting -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Noel Acciari
Zach Aston-Reese -- David Kampf -- Alexander Kerfoot


Morgan Rielly -- Luke Schenn
Jake McCabe -- TJ Brodie
Mark Giordano -- Timothy Liljegren


Ilya Samsonov
Joseph Woll

Scratched: Erik Gustafsson, Conor Timmins, Wayne Simmonds, Sam Lafferty, Justin Holl
Injured: Jake Muzzin (neck), Victor Mete (upper body), Nicholas Robertson (shoulder), Carl Dahlstrom (shoulder), Matt Murray (head)




*Sorry did not see a GDT, so posted one*​

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[sxvnert]

Expecting a 4-3 or 5-4 game.

 

[willmma]

Go Leafs!

 

[AuraSphere]

Yeah I'm expecting a high scoring first game.

 

[Reparlana]

This is gonna be a great game, super excited!

 

[daver]

I do not find the "Haven't made it past the 2nd round since 2002!" narrative as exciting. Hopefully they will be able to find some other motivation.

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

For the last 7 years, I've been so anxious every game day knowing the Leafs had so much to prove. Weirdly, I feel no anxiety at all today. Maybe it's the emotional let down of the last two series these teams were in, but I don't feel that electricity that's been there every other game.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Panthers will be happy to settle this one on the ice, if you beat us 4 times you will have earned it.

Anyone silly enough to come over to the FLA boards looking for trouble tonight should expect a quick exit, anyone else wanting to discuss the game is welcome.

Cheers boys to game 1, there will be blood!

 

[Stive Morgan]

I do not find the "Haven't made it past the 2nd round since 2002!" narrative as exciting. Hopefully they will be able to find some other motivation.

Breaking the "Losers Since 67"

Although as a Habs fan I'd rather see Edmonton (or the Habs obviously, but not this year) break the Canadian Cup drought.

 

[Cotton]

For the last 7 years, I've been so anxious every game day knowing the Leafs had so much to prove. Weirdly, I feel no anxiety at all today. Maybe it's the emotional let down of the last two series these teams were in, but I don't feel that electricity that's been there every other game.

It's because we have no history with the Panthers outside of supporting their existence. No love or hate.

I wanted Boston specifically because we have history there, and wanted a shot at exorcising those demons.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Let's go Leafs!*




*The team I cheer for usually loses.

 

[M2Beezy]

This gonna be one of those games where whoever gets more goals will pull out the victory

 

[Gordian Knot]

Will be eye candy game to watch as a neutral hockey fan.

4-2 for the Cats.

Refs will disallow 2 Leafs goals.

MT will have 10 hits and one cup check.

 

[Sharkbomb]

Maybe Barkov will finally decide to show up.

I expect a very rough game with lots of hits, aggressive checking and terrible goaltending.

 

[HockeyVirus]

So who is opening the scoring this series? Give me your guy from both teams.

Bennett
Nylander

 

[violaswallet]

It's because we have no history with the Panthers outside of supporting their existence. No love or hate.

I wanted Boston specifically because we have history there, and wanted a shot at exorcising those demons.

Florida felt the same way about Tampa: I don't have a strong belief on who would be more difficult for us, but I wanted to exorcise those demons against them.

So who is opening the scoring this series? Give me your guy from both teams.

Bennett
Nylander

Acciari
E. Staal

 

[sxvnert]

So who is opening the scoring this series? Give me your guy from both teams.

Bennett
Nylander

O'Reilly
Tkachuk

 

[Dotter]

Panthers just did the impossible by taking out the world record setters Boston Bruins. This will be a good test for TML to see if they are contenders or pretenders. Panther's forwards are going to stifle TML's core.

 

[Sticksandsun]

Reasonable take: Panthers have lost 8 straight games 1s and will be tired, expecting a slow start but a long series.

Leafs fan take: LOL we struggled against Tampa but since we won a round, Leafs in 3. Florida destroyed Boston at 5 v 5 and won simply because the Bruins are terrible.

 

[Kranix]

Good warm up series on the Leafs march to the cup. Reminder to everyone to be happy for them.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Good warm up series on the Leafs march to the cup. Reminder to everyone to be happy for them.

I'm grateful the NHL is at least allowing this series to take place so Florida can get 2 games of gate revenue, really the proper thing to do would be to allow Toronto to automatically advance to the 3rd round. Typical Bettman southern bias.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

9-7 Florida or 10-0 Leafs.

 

[Dr Pepper]

So who is opening the scoring this series? Give me your guy from both teams.

Bennett
Nylander

Matthews
Duclair

 

[HockeyVirus]

Good warm up series on the Leafs march to the cup. Reminder to everyone to be happy for them.

I'm grateful the NHL is at least allowing this series to take place so Florida can get 2 games of gate revenue, really the proper thing to do would be to allow Toronto to automatically advance to the 3rd round. Typical Bettman southern bias.

You guys are upset Toronto is the favorite in the series? Your own players are even saying as much

 

[TheBeastCoast]

You guys are upset Toronto is the favorite in the series? Your own players are even saying as much

I mean it makes sense. Being the underdog worked pretty well last time for them despite how miffed some Panther fans seem to be about the whole underdog thing.