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Series Talk: Round 2 discussion || North vs South || Leafs vs Panthers

Series prediction?

  • Leafs in 4

    Votes: 3 1.7%

  • Leafs in 5

    Votes: 8 4.5%

  • Leafs in 6

    Votes: 38 21.6%

  • Leafs in 7

    Votes: 61 34.7%

  • Panthers in 4

    Votes: 3 1.7%

  • Panthers in 5

    Votes: 15 8.5%

  • Panthers in 6

    Votes: 38 21.6%

  • Panthers in 7

    Votes: 10 5.7%
  • Total voters
    176
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To avoid stating the obvious, Florida is gonna be a real tough out. They match up well star-power wise with definite edges on G and D and play gritty, wild, smart playoff hockey. I thought for the most part the Leafs kept mistakes against Ottawa to a minimum, they'll have to be even better against Florida.

This series had its scary moments but there weren't really any points where the danger was palpable. I called Leafs in 6, but it should have been in 4 or 5. Propers to Ottawa, young team on the rise, but you arent winning many series when you have the 2nd best goaltender and 4th or 5th best forward.

Standings aside Florida is in my opinion the best team still standing. Winnipeg is struggling to brush off the pesky Blues and the Caps had the tastiest of cupcake matches in the first round. Florida absolutely waxed an experienced but injured Tampa team like they were playing the Flyers or the Kraken in November.

Anything less than taking the first 2 at home is a suboptimal situation for the Leafs.

I'm going back to bed for a few hours (it's 11 AM here) and I'll catch Dangle's bipolar disorder when I wake up.
 
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Let's remember the facts about the last series.

Leafs lost in 5.

3 games went to OT

The other 2 were one goal games that Fla had an empty netter in one.

The Leafs never felt in it, but were a bounce away from making it a series.

Arguably the Leafs are better and Fla is a little weaker.

Could be fun guys!
 
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Jojalu said:
Let's remember the facts about the last series.

Leafs lost in 5.

3 games went to OT

The other 2 were one goal games that Fla had an empty netter in one.

The Leafs never felt in it, but were a bounce away from making it a series.

Arguably the Leafs are better and Fla is a little weaker.

Could be fun guys!
Click to expand...

They have that other gear. We are yet to find it.
 
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Voodoo Child said:
To avoid stating the obvious, Florida is gonna be a real tough out. They match up well star-power wise with definite edges on G and D and play gritty, wild, smart playoff hockey. I thought for the most part the Leafs kept mistakes against Ottawa to a minimum, they'll have to be even better against Florida.

This series had its scary moments but there weren't really any points where the danger was palpable. I called Leafs in 6, but it should have been in 4 or 5. Propers to Ottawa, young team on the rise, but you arent winning many series when you have the 2nd best goaltender and 4th or 5th best forward.

Standings aside Florida is in my opinion the best team still standing. Winnipeg is struggling to brush off the pesky Blues and the Caps had the tastiest of cupcake matches in the first round. Florida absolutely waxed an experienced but injured Tampa team like they were playing the Flyers or the Kraken in November.

Anything less than taking the first 2 at home is a suboptimal situation for the Leafs.

I'm going back to bed for a few hours (it's 11 AM here) and I'll catch Dangle's bipolar disorder when I wake up.
Click to expand...
I believe that the winner of this series will go to the final as the eastern conference representative.

Toronto or Florida, it doesn’t matter.
 
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Stephen said:
Florida’s 2 pack of Finns Eetu and Anton are so annoying to play against.
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And then you complete the trifecta with Matthews' daddy Barkov. There's also Mikkola on D who isn't afraid to hurt guys apparently.
 
If Toronto can clean up their mistakes in getting the puck out (Knies giveaway that caused the 2-2 goal against tonight as an example) and keep playing tight defensively they have a shot at beating Florida

They need to be more aggressive at getting traffic in front (look at Matthews goal on the PP - Knies in front, and Max Patch goal Holmberg in front) and putting more pucks towards the net with the traffic
 
The Shadow said:
If Toronto can clean up their mistakes in getting the puck out (Knies giveaway that caused the 2-2 goal against tonight as an example) and keep playing tight defensively they have a shot at beating Florida

They need to be more aggressive at getting traffic in front (look at Matthews goal on the PP - Knies in front, and Max Patch goal Holmberg in front) and putting more pucks towards the net with the traffic
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They definitely need to tighten up in all areas. One of them is definitely making bad or soft plays at the blue line. The Panthers are on steroids in terms of forechecking and forcing turnovers, so any sort of break down will be bad news unless Stolarz is back to elite levels.

Leafs did well last few games to limit shots and play more in the offensive zone though. Leafs had 3 insane posts in game 6 so the score flattered the Sens quite a bit.
 
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Leafs are far better on the back end and they have a goalie who was second in the league in Save % if I remember correctly.

I know this, Florida will be the favourite but each pick up the Leafs made was designed to address this matchup.



Here are the scores for each game two years ago:


1746159611246.png



4 Of the 5 games were decided by one goal. Two OT wins for Florida. The Leafs played more of a rushing game, whereas this season they played a more defensive, button down game with far better personnel on the backend to play this style. They sacrificed the body more to play low event hockey for many stretches.

For the record, the Senators are probably the fastest team in the conference. Young and fast with no concern in the world. Reminded me of the Leafs putting a scare into the Capitals in the First Round a couple of years before they won the Cup.

I my opinion the greatest asset in hockey is speed, especially if the league decides to call penalties as they have moreso this playoff season than in the past.

Here is the Leafs D in that 2023 series (and their age):


1746159887614.png



I noticed they focused plenty on Lilly, a young, soft D Man. TJ Brodie is also a skating D Man, not very hard on the body. Schenn is a monster, which is why he was picked up and he was a wall for the team. He and McCabe were the only really "strong" D Men tasked with dealing with a forechecking Florida team.

This is the Leafs D this year that will start Game One against Florida:


1746160077536.png



Big, reliable Carlo, shot blocking ShutDown pairing of Tanev and McCabe. Simon "Bonecrusher" Benoit who loves to hit. OEL who is far meaner than people give him credit for (and has some offensive bursts), and, Reilly who was the leading scorer for ALL Leafs in that series and generally had a strong series.

The Leafs were having some difficulty with Senators speed, it made it difficult for the Leafs forwards to press forward AND play their system of helping on D. They system is better built to withstand Panthers style hockey in a series. That extra step in a foot race is exceedingly important.

This battle will come down to what I anticipated mid way through this season if the Leafs were to be successful (they did win the division, lost only 3 games all year when leading after the First Period, and Stolarz did have an 11 game win streak to finish the season if I remember correctly): the Leafs defense should be better able to prevent the driving Florida forwards from playing their game.

Low scoring with a more unruly Panthers team that may take a few too many penalties and risk losing the special teams battle. Leafs could win this in seven and I guarantee that they are quietly more confident than anyone gives them credit for.

This team is far better suited for the Panthers at this time of the year than 2023. Whether this results in a different outcome is to be decided. The puck can go either way in OT and there will be some OT games.
 
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Roids... how can you play multiple seasons of this kind of balls to the wall, deep round hockey..??? Roids, that's how...

Thx for exposing Ekblad. Now test the whole team before Round 2! Cheatin' azz beeches
 
leafsfan5 said:
I have very little hope for this version of AM34 against Barkov but maybe he surprises me
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I really don’t like the idea of keeping Matthews-Marner together in this series vs Barkov. Barkov has the potential to completely shut both of them down. If you split them up we’re at least getting one of them away from him. Plus, Matthews and Marner have become so predictable 5 on 5. They just aren’t good enough together at 5 on 5 to justify keeping them together imo.
 
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