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

[Just Rude]

Leaf fans who think we are going to steamroll the Cats are going to be in for a rude awakening.

This is a very good hockey team.

We just won our first series in almost two decades. Let's act like we've been there before (even though we haven't).

 

[violaswallet]

I agree Maurice is underrated and a big upgrade. I'm just saying on paper they're not the president's trophy team of last year. Still an underrated team that the Leafs shouldn't take lightly. But looking at the depth of last year vs. this year, I don't think coaching and internal improvements make up the gap. We'll see though.

Tough to say: our coaching lost it last year. Bruno essentially was just running the Q system on auto pilot when Q himself was great with adjustments.

I’m not interested in saying who is better from last year or etc, but we are amiss to ignore the major improvement that won the round: hedk, just compare the goalie changes this series-Montgomery made the change at the worst possible time this series while PoMo changed goalies after an okay but not stellar performance by LYON

 

[Stolie the Goalie]

View attachment 700934

I got one for ya

 

[ShootIt]

I'm not undermining the upgrade from Huberdeau to Tkachuk. I fully understand and acknowledge Tkachuk has played like an MVP calibre player this year.

But at the same time, Marchment was legitimately an elite winger last year, and the fact that people are just glossing over that loss is quite ignorant. Sure there has been internal improvements, and Montour has played well, but there's no way the internal improvement from Montour is enough to bridge the gap between Marc Staal and Weegar. That's a sub-replacement level defender to a top pair D.

Marchment was great for us and is a big loss. I think the only concern was if he was lucky/wouldn't repeat what he did last year.
I wish he could of stayed/Zito found a way to keep him. But between the Yandle buyout and Hornqvist 5 mil cap hit the team couldn't keep him realistically.

And not arguing the loss on the blueline. For all of Weegar's untimely brainfarts, he still was a very good defenseman. They didn't replace his defensive abilities.

On paper the team took a hit in talent. Not arguing that.

I think a factor to make up the loss of talent is when times got tough in the playoffs last year Brunette didn't mix it up to find lines that could counter the Caps/Lightning. Maurice did and it paid off vs Boston.
Panthers last year won vs the Caps series purely through talented depth overcoming a poor gameplan/undertalented Caps team. And then got steamrolled by the Lightning.

I wish we could of had last years talent with Maurice(go figure I would say that 4 months ago).

 

[DaveMatthew]

Sure, but also half way through the season the Leafs were essentially only playing for home in the first round. They were 11 points back of the Bruins and already 15 ahead of the Sabres (who were the 4th place team in the division at that time)

That's fine. But my main point is that the Panthers aren't some scrappy wildcard team just happy to make the playoffs and win a round. The cores of both these teams have been intact and contenders for the past several seasons:

Last 3 years:
Leafs - 303 pts
Panthers - 293 pts

Both these franchises think this is their time. And they both made roster changes over the past 12 months with the intention of getting over the hump and winning the cup.

 

[leafsfan5]

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.

Everyone except for Tampa Bay I guess. They looked legitimately very good and better than they did last year. Vasi even found his game again in games 5 + 6, Leafs luckily had Samsonov match him or else we'd be in game 7

People are underrating TB this year. If they beat us I think they would've made the finals again

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

Tough to say: our coaching lost it last year. Bruno essentially was just running the Q system on auto pilot when Q himself was great with adjustments.

I’m not interested in saying who is better from last year or etc, but we are amiss to ignore the major improvement that won the round: hedk, just compare the goalie changes this series-Montgomery made the change at the worst possible time this series while PoMo changed goalies after an okay but not stellar performance by LYON

I'm curious though, there's literally a fire Maurice thread on the Panthers Board. Did he just magically get better at coaching in the playoffs? Or was he legitimately coaching well in the regular season, not getting the results (though had a good process), and fans just got angry with the lack of success?

 

[Edgelord]

IMO game 1 is going to Leafs, both teams haven't had time to make major adjustments and if they both default to the style they played in the 1st round, the Leafs are going to pick the Panthers apart. The quality of hockey was night and day between the 2 series. The cats may still think they can make those same 5-10 mistakes and not have it hurt them but in the Leafs-Bolts series you were seeing maybe 3-5 max per team per game.

 

[Yorkshire Leaf]

When the Cats made their first ever cup run Scott Mellanby killed a rat in their locker room with a hockey stick. The story went viral, the Panthers made plastic rats for everyone and they would litter the ice with them, birthing the NHL rule that teams can be penalized for their fans delaying the game by tossing stuff on the ice.

Also Tkachuk’s nickname by us Oiler fans was Ratboy. Now you will find out why.

Fertilizer is an apt mascot for the Leafs actually as it’s made of shit, something the Leafs have been since 1967.

Do you feel better getting all that off your chest, seems like it’s been bothering you for a while.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Dont understand "the easy path", Panthers just beat the 65 wins team. Please don't disrespect them.

Quite simple, both teams are on a playoff run let us talk some smack. Of course I don't think the Panthers are an easy sweep, but if any Panthers fans are reading this comment yes I do

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

Marchment was great for us and is a big loss. I think the only concern was if he was lucky/wouldn't repeat what he did last year.
I wish he could of stayed/Zito found a way to keep him. But between the Yandle buyout and Hornqvist 5 mil cap hit the team couldn't keep him realistically.

And not arguing the loss on the blueline. For all of Weegar's untimely brainfarts, he still was a very good defenseman. They didn't replace his defensive abilities.

On paper the team took a hit in talent. Not arguing that.

I think a factor to make up the loss of talent is when times got tough in the playoffs last year Brunette didn't mix it up to find lines that could counter the Caps/Lightning. Maurice did and it paid off vs Boston.
Panthers last year won vs the Caps series purely through talented depth overcoming a poor gameplan/undertalented Caps team. And then got steamrolled by the Lightning.

I wish we could of had last years talent with Maurice(go figure I would say that 4 months ago).

Remember the PoMo takes after the Leafs drubbed them late in the season? Everyone, including Cats fans, were absolutely roasting him.

Winning solves all problems.

 

[hamzarocks]

Leafs in 5

 

[ShootIt]

I'm curious though, there's literally a fire Maurice thread on the Panthers Board. Did he just magically get better at coaching in the playoffs? Or was he legitimately coaching well in the regular season, not getting the results (though had a good process), and fans just got angry with the lack of success?

Can't speak for everyone, but there were growing pains from the team changing styles from Q's run and gun to Maurice dump and chase/get the puck to the blueline/pepper shots.
Early on the team would outshoot the opponent by a decent margin but lose by 2 cause 75% of those shots were easy to defend.
The depth on the team isn't as deep either and we had down seasons from Lundell/injuries to key players it showed.
Knock on wood they are healthy in the postseason.

Also, some weren't big fan of the signing from the get go.

 

[HockeyVirus]

It’s going to 7 games this one. Leafs overtime win in game 7.

I can't see the Panthers beating the Leafs 3 times.

 

[Divine]

Florida trying to do everything it can to protect its building from being overrun by Leafs fans

 

[violaswallet]

I'm curious though, there's literally a fire Maurice thread on the Panthers Board. Did he just magically get better at coaching in the playoffs? Or was he legitimately coaching well in the regular season, not getting the results (though had a good process), and fans just got angry with the lack of success?

We played like a 105-110 point team for the second half of the season but played shitty before and we had some shitty play. Tough to say what caused it but injuries to Barkov, Ekblad and Duclair were apparent as was our cap hell. Certainly a shoot the messenger sort of thing

I think regular season coaching is a bit different than playoff which is apparent by comparing last year: last year the regular season hockey was so fun but we couldn’t adjust in the playoffs. This year it was the reverse: the regular season hockey wasn’t as fun but we made adjustments.

What makes look Pomo look so bad imo is that we were comparing against Q’s build
The past couple of season and Q is just better

 

[DaveMatthew]

IMO game 1 is going to Leafs, both teams haven't had time to make major adjustments and if they both default to the style they played in the 1st round, the Leafs are going to pick the Panthers apart. The quality of hockey was night and day between the 2 series. The cats may still think they can make those same 5-10 mistakes and not have it hurt them but in the Leafs-Bolts series you were seeing maybe 3-5 max per team per game.

The roster construction of the Leafs really benefited them against Tampa. Dubas made those additions at the deadline with the goal of beating Tampa, and it worked. Tampa tried to slow the pace down and make it a battle in the trenches - which really suited guys like Tavares, O'Reilly, Schenn, and McCabe. They were able to have big impacts.

I expect Florida to play a much faster, in-your-face style. Shots from everywhere, get Samsonov swimming, etc.

Will it work? We'll see. I suspect it'll benefit guys like Marner and Nylander, so they'll need to come up big this time, but hurt Tavares and O'Reilly, who'll have more trouble keeping up.

But I don't think you can make any real conclusions based on the first-round series. These will be 4-3 or 5-4 games instead of 2-1, IMO.

 

[North Cole]

Going to go Leafs in 7. Interesting series mentally though. FLA has been basically playing elimination insanity games for a month straight because they needed a massive heater to make the playoffs and then knocked off the Bruins. Leafs had a huge emotional purge finally busting through to second round.

Whichever team can summon the focus and drive is going to win this. On one hand FLA constant max pressure situations take a toll and on the other the Leafs need to not be content just getting through and find another gear.

 

[leafsfan5]

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.

Man people are underrating the Bolts in this thread. Them playing shit hockey for 1.5 months to end the season means nothing, they're the one team in hockey where you don't look at regular season numbers as any sort of indication. They even came out and punched us in the mouth game 1 of the series

TB played excellent hockey and were coached perfectly. Cooper had them destroy our neutral zone transition and it limited our ability to do anything till Keefe adjusted in game 6. Florida is a lot more structured than they used to be (credit to Maurice), but it doesn't compare to TB's overall structure imo. Leafs will have a lot more success going through the neutral zone and sustaining offensive zone pressure

Also Hedman isn't human, he somehow got hurt during our series, came back and turned into a norris winning defenseman. He literally got hurt and became better as a result

But yes, Florida is a good team and I think they'll exploit our defense very effectively. I'm worried how our defenders will handle the forecheck, it caused us problems when we played Florida during the season and will only heighten here. Matthews/ROR/Kampf will be critical in providing support down low to the d-men to help the breakout

 

[Chaos2k7]

Thank you Bruins for choking and gifting us the Panthers

Gifting?

This why they play the games on the ice.

 

[Edgelord]

The roster construction of the Leafs really benefited them against Tampa. Dubas made those additions at the deadline with the goal of beating Tampa, and it worked. Tampa tried to slow the pace down and make it a battle in the trenches - which really suited guys like Tavares, O'Reilly, Schenn, and McCabe. They were able to have big impacts.

I expect Florida to play a much faster, in-your-face style. Shots from everywhere, get Samsonov swimming, etc.

Will it work? We'll see. I suspect it'll benefit guys like Marner and Nylander, so they'll need to come up big this time, but hurt Tavares and O'Reilly.

But I don't think you can make any real conclusions based on the first-round series. These will be 4-3 or 5-4 games instead of 2-1, IMO.

I still maintain that if the Cats don't clean up and play tighter this will go less than 7, if the Cats clean up and make less mistakes then its going to be a tight series.

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

The roster construction of the Leafs really benefited them against Tampa. Dubas made those additions at the deadline with the goal of beating Tampa, and it worked. Tampa tried to slow the pace down and make it a battle in the trenches - which really suited guys like Tavares, O'Reilly, Schenn, and McCabe. They were able to have big impacts.

I expect Florida to play a much faster, in-your-face style. Shots from everywhere, get Samsonov swimming, etc.

Will it work? We'll see. I suspect it'll benefit guys like Marner and Nylander, so they'll need to come up big this time, but hurt Tavares and O'Reilly, who'll have more trouble keeping up.

But I don't think you can make any real conclusions based on the first-round series. These will be 4-3 or 5-4 games instead of 2-1, IMO.

Nothing about Tampa was slow. Cirelli, Kuch, Point, Essyimont, Colton, Hagel...all of these guys can fly. On D, Sergachev, Hedmna and Raddysh all skated well.

 

[Edgelord]

Man people are underrating the Bolts in this thread. Them playing shit hockey for 1.5 months to end the season means nothing, they're the one team in hockey where you don't look at regular season numbers as any sort of indication. They even came out and punched us in the mouth game 1 of the series

TB played excellent hockey and were coached perfectly. Cooper had them destroy our neutral zone transition and it limited our ability to do anything till Keefe adjusted in game 6. Florida is a lot more structured than they used to be (credit to Maurice), but it doesn't compare to TB's overall structure imo. Leafs will have a lot more success going through the neutral zone and sustaining offensive zone pressure

Also Hedman isn't human, he somehow got hurt during our series, came back and turned into a norris winning defenseman. He literally got hurt and became better as a result

But yes, Florida is a good team and I think they'll exploit our defense very effectively. I'm worried how our defenders will handle the forecheck, it caused us problems when we played Florida during the season and will only heighten here. Matthews/ROR/Kampf will be critical in providing support down low to the d-men to help the breakout

I hate to use the cliche that Tampa earned respect but man what a team. The way they turn up for the playoffs is amazing, their structure was soo tight, it was clear why they won the East 3yrs in a row.

 

[Beezeral]

Thank you Bruins for choking and gifting us the Panthers

no way this backfires on you

 

[DaveMatthew]

Nothing about Tampa was slow. Cirelli, Kuch, Point, Essyimont, Colton, Hagel...all of these guys can fly. On D, Sergachev, Hedmna and Raddysh all skated well.

I'm not talking about individual players. I'm talking about style of play. Tampa wanted to play low-event hockey. And for the most part, they did just that very well. The Leafs were able to battle through and score the big goals.

I think the Panthers will be more willing to open things up and trade chances. So I expect there to be more mistakes (by both teams) and more goals.