Well, here we go again. It’s the Maple Leafs vs. the Panthers in round two. This time, though, Florida is the favourite.
Two years ago, the Leafs finally got over the hump against Tampa Bay before watching a wildcard Panthers team upset a record-setting Boston Bruins squad in overtime of Game 7. When Florida won the series, the situation was seemingly lining up favourably for the Leafs at the time. However, they quickly fell down 3-0, were generally bullied around the ice, and promptly lost the second-round series in five games.
At the risk of diving too far into a narrative, I believe the series left some real scars on the Leafs organization.
Revisiting the five games, there were some tough moments to replay. Sam Bennett knocked Matthew Knies out of the playoffs and bullied Michael Bunting with no response. The closing sequence of Game 4 included Brandon Montour running Morgan Rielly, Bennett punching Jake McCabe in the face at the bottom of a scrum, and Matthew Tkachuk throwing multiple jabs at Mitch Marner. There was the big Radko Gudas hit on David Kampf, and Marc Staal’s elbow on Marner at the end of regulation in Game 5. The Leafs were punked in basically every notable confrontation over the series.
“They were more physical than us. They kind of grabbed control of the series that way, which we need to respond to a little better than we did with it. It was definitely a factor for them that help them beat us.”
– Ryan O’Reilly on the Leafs‘ loss to the Panthers in 2023
In the 2023 offseason, the Leafs said goodbye to Kyle Dubas (thankfully), and Brad Treliving was ushered into the Leafs’ GM chair on short notice. Treliving immediately spoke of adding “snot” to the lineup and signed the trio of Max Domi, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Ryan Reaves.
Before Reaves even put on a Leafs jersey for the first time, he was asked about Gudas celebrating in Joseph Woll’s face after the Game 5 series-clinching winner. When the Leafs played against Anaheim, both Reaves and Domi went out of their way to go after Gudas to the point where you’d almost think they were playing on the Leafs team that lost to Florida the previous spring.
Against the Panthers last season, Domi went after Matthew Tkachuk with a hefty cross-check from behind, causing a scrum where he punched Sam Bennett multiple times. Domi then fought Bennett later in the game.
Brand new players – who had no involvement in the 2023 playoff series – seeking a pound of flesh is revealing in terms of how the Leafs organization viewed the playoff series and their desire to respond as a group. It’s not exactly typical for new players on the roster to respond for their new team in this way.
Since then, the Leafs added two players from the Panthers, one with size and physicality (Steven Lorentz) and one with bite and an understated mean streak (Oliver Ekman-Larsson). They traded for the 6’5 Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton, who bring some jam to the table and certainly won’t back down from an altercation. Max Pacioretty was asked to reinvent his game physically and has done it. Knies has developed, and Bobby McMann adds a combination of size/strength/physicality as well. Chris Tanev is also not one to back down on the ice.
I don’t want to suggest the Leafs are physically ready for Florida – who has punked all sorts of teams; this isn’t exclusive to Toronto by any means – but the Leafs have definitely been looking to address this area of their game for years. Now, we’ll see how they handle the ultimate test against the Cup champions.
The Panthers are masters of shit-housery, and it was on display once again in the first round this spring when they dispatched Tampa Bay in five games. It’s a fine line between standing up for yourself/playing a physical game, and losing control or getting bullied by this Panthers team. I wouldn’t even usually spend so much time on this part of the matchup – it’s too unpredictable – but the Panthers are a bit of an exception. They hit to hurt and don’t hesitate to cross the line.
For his part, Craig Berube wants the Leafs not to get carried away and play hard between the whistles. That’s how his team approached the Ottawa Senators, and he reiterated it when asked about dealing with certain Panthers players: “There are always different scenarios that come up, but we want to play hard between the whistles. We have to be physical. We have to match their physicality.”
I can’t predict what antics the Panthers might get up to in this series and how the Leafs should respond. However, we know there will be violence and shenanigans, and the Leafs can’t allow themselves to back down or be bullied around. If nothing else, they need to protect themselves on the ice.
This Panthers team has won eight of their last nine playoff series. They are arguably the hardest postseason opponent in the league right now. Their physicality isn’t the only reason, but it’s one of them. They draw confidence from physically imposing their will on opponents. There is a long list of players they’ve knocked out of games or series over the past few years. In the one series they lost (to Vegas in the Stanley Cup Final of 2023), the bullies got bullied; Keegan Kolesar destroyed Matthew Tkachuk, rendering him a non-factor the rest of the series, and Ivan Barbashev steamrolled Gudas.
Since losing to the Panthers in 2023, the Leafs have added all sorts of players with a physical streak. They got rid of their “our toughness is our power play” mentality and have sought to replicate the back-to-back Cup champion Tampa Lightning mentality of sticking together and standing up for each other in numbers. Aware they were too one-dimensional as an offensive skill team, management has tried to add other elements to the team to blend in different styles.
There will be no bigger test of their growth in this area than this upcoming rematch against the Florida Panthers.
Programming Note: Stayed glued to MLHS for the next instalment of the Leafs vs. Panthers Series Preview addressing the five-on-five matchups.
