ECSF: Toronto Maple Leafs (A2) vs. Florida Panthers (WC2) ( Florida Leads 3-1 )

[ProjectPanthers]

You are fighting as hard as you can to find disrespect I get it lol you are allowed to think your team is going to win but so are we and thinking that isn’t disrespecting your team so maybe take a breath and calm down.


Lmao the brain rot is so deep we got an Oiler fan turned Tkatchuk fan. This is awesome.

I live in Toronto man, the disrespect has been blowing up on my phone since last night. I'm very calm, am I not allowed to analyze what I've seen on this board and in person? Sure thing kid.

It's all good, bring it on. Should be a fun series.

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

The entire couple first pages is filled with "what a gift" and "Leafs in 5" lol give me a break.

Mostly by non-Leaf fans. Also, saying a team will win in 5 or 6 isn't discrediting the other team. I thought NJ would win in 6 and I didn't say that to discredit the Rangers.

Ugh this place is like Fox News sometimes.

I live in Toronto man, the disrespect has been blowing up on my phone since last night. I'm very calm, am I not allowed to analyze what I've seen on this board and in person? Sure thing kid.

It's all good, bring it on. Should be a fun series.

That's called banter. This is a game, try not to take it so personally.

 

[violaswallet]

Leafs fans, check the avatars of the posters: the flamboyant aren’t panthers fans

 

[ProjectPanthers]

Mostly by non-Leaf fans. Also, saying a team will win in 5 or 6 isn't discrediting the other team. I thought NJ would win in 6 and I didn't say that to discredit the Rangers.

Ugh this place is like Fox News sometimes.



That's called banter. This is a game, try not to take it so personally.

I mean I'm not going to stare at every avatar of every poster? So ok.

And again, it's banter. I came in with analysis and said Florida should win and 3 of you have already tried to frame as something it isn't lol.

You guys make no sense but alright.

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

I mean I'm not going to stare at every avatar of every poster? So ok.

And again, it's banter. I came in with analysis and said Florida should win and 3 of you have already tried to frame as something it isn't lol.

You guys make no sense but alright.

Three of you? Of who?

If you mean Leaf fans, it should not be a shocker that they want their team to win.

 

[HockeyVirus]

The entire couple first pages is filled with "what a gift" and "Leafs in 5" lol give me a break.

Because the Bruins played really poorly, it is not hard to understand why a fanbase is happy to be facing the last wildcard team instead of the greatest regular season team of all time who also happens to have beat them 3 times in the past decade in the playoffs.

Not to mention Leafs won 3 of 4 against the Panthers are are objectively the favorites on paper. We were planning on having to overcome the impossible to advance past round 2 and now the path is realistically available.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Lmao the brain rot is so deep we got an Oiler fan turned Tkatchuk fan. This is awesome.

I would cheer for Chairman Mao and Stalin to beat the Leafs!

Tkachuk should be an Oiler anyway, our idiot GM ran onstage to take a player he never even interviewed who we literally just gave away for nothing to Carolina.

I’m looking forward to the series.

 

[ProjectPanthers]

Three of you? Of who?

If you mean Leaf fans, it should not be a shocker that they want their team to win.

I'm not wasting anymore time talking to you but 5000 posts in 1 year, maybe go outside kid?

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

I'm not wasting anymore time talking to you but 5000 posts in 1 year, maybe go outside kid?

Luckily I have one of those office jobs that lets me browse a lot during the day. Gotta love getting paid to banter hockey.

 

[ProjectPanthers]

Luckily I have one of those office jobs that lets me browse a lot during the day. Gotta love getting paid to banter hockey.

Hey well at least we have that in common

 

[Razz]

I think the Leafs take it, they are healthy, deep and focused this year. Florida though is no joke and I consider them the favourites.

The team that beats the favourite, becomes the favourite, no?

 

[Sticksandsun]

 

[BB79]

Not nearly as comical as the one we just watched.

1967.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

Its not really a dig at Florida that I think the Leafs will win this easily, its them finally getting out of the 1st round and having Boston out of the picture. It could be any team left and I would feel the same way.

 

[hatterson]

Anyone writing off the Panthers is being dumb.

Yes, the Leafs are overall the better team and the betting favorite in the series, but we just saw that being the better team doesn't remotely guarantee you a series win.

Unless Florida decides to randomly stop playing (which they haven't given any indication of) this will likely be a close and hard fought series.

 

[The Best Leafs Everr]

The Tampa team that swept us last round isnt the same Tampa team of this year. Number two, age decline is a real thing. The Panthers beat a number one seed with the highest point discrepancy in the history of the NHL. The Leafs beat a third seed team in their own division. Any comparison to last year is moot. Its a new year, players have changed etc etc. It is not a valid argument in regards to THIS season. Everyone knew the Lightning were cooked.

Ok, the tougher the better. Bring it on, we need more weapons anyways. Weapons from Tampa is not enough to win the cup.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

I think the Leafs take it, they are healthy, deep and focused this year. Florida though is no joke and I consider them the favourites.

The team that beats the favourite, becomes the favourite, no?

In a way sure but the hockey being played in either series was at different levels. The # of mistakes in the Tampa/Leafs series was way less than the Cats/Bruins series. Plus the conversion rates were higher in the Bolts/Leafs series. So that means that if the Cats don't clean those up, they are going to have a rough series.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Toronto definitely goes into this series as a favourite, but mostly because of narrative. They shouldn't be taking Florida lightly, and I'm surprised at how many people are saying they now have an "easy path" to the finals (same with the Oilers).

The Panthers are not just some scrappy wildcard team. They brought back 13 players from last year's President's trophy roster, upgraded from Huberdeau to Tkachuk, and have a Cup-winning coach behind the bench. Yeah, they had some struggles in the regular season, but haven't we learned from history? You just have to get hot at the right time.

I give tons of credit to the Leafs for beating the Lightning, because the result is all that matters, but that series was a coin flip. It wasn't domination by any stretch. 3OT games and Tampa led for more than they trailed. Plus, Cernak was out, Hedman/Point were playing at 70%, and the Bolts came into the playoffs playing shit hockey for the last 1.5 months of the season.

The Panthers just beat a much better team, came into the playoffs on a heater, and IMO, matchup better with the Leafs than this version of the Bolts did. They deserve much more respect than they're getting.

Panthers were 24-13-4 in the last 41 regular season games. Leafs were 25-12-4. This is an even matchup. I expect it to go 6 or 7, and wouldn't at all be surprised if Florida took it.

 

[The Best Leafs Everr]

The thing that most of the people forget is that Tampa and Leafs series was the most hostile series in the entire NHL. We beat Tampa at their own game of grinding and getting greasy goals their top dogs were held to just being dogs all series long.

We are already better at playing the Panthers game, it's going to be tough for both teams to advance. If I were to bet I would still bet on the Leafs though.

 

[The Management]

I can definitely see Toronto coming out of the gate a little sluggish and getting punished in Game 1 by a hungry Panthers team. But I hope to be proven wrong.

 

[DaveMatthew]

The thing that most of the people forget is that Tampa and Leafs series was the most hostile series in the entire NHL. We beat Tampa at their own game of grinding and getting greasy goals their top dogs were held to just being dogs all series long.

We are already better at playing the Panthers game, it's going to be tough for both teams to advance. If I were to bet I would still bet on the Leafs though.

*Were better.

One of the most interesting angles of this series is how the new-look Leafs will look against this style of play. Dubas' deadline acquisitions were designed to beat Tampa, and credit to him, they did just that.

But this Panther's team plays a style that the old Leafs would have been better against compared to the new Leafs, IMO.

I think it's a pretty even matchup.

 

[violaswallet]

Its not really a dig at Florida that I think the Leafs will win this easily, its them finally getting out of the 1st round and having Boston out of the picture. It could be any team left and I would feel the same way.

I get this feeling but I think the following are the main factors. Remember three games went to overtime including that one with terrible reffing that got Maurice fined 25k afterwards

(1) Toronto’s PP will be deadly. Florida needs to limit the PKS: question is whether or not Toronto averages more than one PP a game. (If one or less good news for Florida)
(2) the top 6 of both teams have excellent pieces: the big four of Toronto plus O’Reilley versus Barkov, Tkachuk, Bennett and Verhaege will be great.
(3) Both teams have somewhat volatile goalies but also have two goalies that can play
(4) For me the biggest difference between games 6 and 7 in the playoffs for the panthers was their third line: Lundell has had a weak season but exploded for four points. If they’re on; I think this is a series that goes 7

 

[ProjectPanthers]

Toronto definitely goes into this series as a favourite, but mostly because of narrative. They shouldn't be taking Florida lightly, and I'm surprised at how many people are saying they now have an "easy path" to the finals (same with the Oilers).

The Panthers are not just some scrappy wildcard team. They brought back 13 players from last year's President's trophy roster, upgraded from Huberdeau to Tkachuk, and have a Cup-winning coach behind the bench. Yeah, they had some struggles in the regular season, but haven't we learned from history? You just have to get hot at the right time.

I give tons of credit to the Leafs for beating the Lightning, because the result is all that matters, but that series was a coin flip. It wasn't domination by any stretch. 3OT games and Tampa led for more than they trailed. Plus, Cernak was out, Hedman/Point were playing at 70%, and the Bolts came into the playoffs playing shit hockey for the last 1.5 months of the season.

The Panthers just beat a much better team, came into the playoffs on a heater, and IMO, matchup better with the Leafs than this version of the Bolts did. They deserve much more respect than they're getting.

Panthers were 24-13-4 in the last 41 regular season games. Leafs were 25-12-4. This is an even matchup. I expect it to go 6 or 7, and wouldn't at all be surprised if Florida took it.

What a breath of fresh air. This is the only take for this series.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

I get this feeling but I think the following are the main factors. Remember three games went to overtime including that one with terrible reffing that got Maurice fined 25k afterwards

(1) Toronto’s PP will be deadly. Florida needs to limit the PKS: question is whether or not Toronto averages more than one PP a game. (If one or less good news for Florida)
(2) the top 6 of both teams have excellent pieces: the big four of Toronto plus O’Reilley versus Barkov, Tkachuk, Bennett and Verhaege will be great.
(3) Both teams have somewhat volatile goalies but also have two goalies that can play
(4) For me the biggest difference between games 6 and 7 in the playoffs for the panthers was their third line: Lundell has had a weak season but exploded for four points. If they’re on; I think this is a series that goes 7

true, this 1st round showed all of us that we all have no clue whats going to happen

 

[Just Rude]

I can’t wait to see Bennett and Tkachuk drive the pretty boy Leafs nuts.

Three Leafs in the top seven hit leaders in these playoffs, genius. First year watching hockey?