It took the Toronto Maple Leafs six games to get past the Ottawa Senators in round one of the NHL Playoffs but things will get much tougher on Monday night when they play host to the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers.
The Maple Leafs will try to defeat a Florida club that has won five straight playoff series and eight of nine en route to consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances.
Toronto hasn’t made it to the NHL Conference finals since 2002 – a span of 23 years.
What follows is a brief primer to get NHL fans ready for this Atlantic Division showdown, which promises to be a physical affair.
How they got here
Toronto, which finished first in the Atlantic Division with 108 points, needed six games to dispatch the Senators in the latest installment of the Battle of Ontario. Leafs’ fans were relieved to finish off Ottawa after the series started 3-0 before the Senators took a pair of games, pushing the series to six games.
Florida, which finished third in the Atlantic Division with 98 points and is coached by former Maple Leafs’ bench boss Paul Maurice, squared off with their in-state rivals as well, finishing off the higher-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning in just five games. It was a physical showdown and the repercussions of that will see Tampa without defenceman Aaron Ekblad for the series opener after being suspended for two contests for a dirty hit.
Head-to-head
The two clubs met four times during the 2024-25 season with the squad from the Sunshine State winning three of those matchups including a 3-1 victory during the final meeting of the sides on April 8.
The Panthers have been in existence since 1993 but these two teams have only met in the Stanley Cup Playoffs once over that 32-year span.
The initial meeting finally took place in 2023 with the Floridians dismissing the Ontarians in just five games.
Northern migration
After last spring’s Stanley Cup victory, a trio of Panthers headed north, as defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, forward Steven Lorentz and goaltender Anthony Stolarz all signed on with the Boys in Blue in free agency over the summer.
Stolarz has taken over as the top ‘tender in Toronto, while Ekman-Larsson also had a pair of goals during the opening round series between the Maple Leafs and Sens.
“I’m extremely proud of the way that our team handled business,” Stolarz said of Toronto’s victory over Ottawa.
Stolarz, who was a key cog in the team’s first place finish in the Atlantic Division, ended his first season in Toronto as the NHL leader in save percentage (.926) and goals-against average (2.14.)
Public Enemy No. 1
Florida is chock full of players who are hated by fans in other markets, including Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett. But public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Torontonians will be 37-year-old Brad Marchand.
The long-time Bruin is a feisty forward who is generally booed every time his stick touches the puck at Scotiabank Centre, but he is not bothered by the anti-accolades.
“To be honest, I never really cared,” Marchand told the Associated Press. “Fans get a very small insight of who we are as people. They watch the games and they build opinions on players off who they are on the ice. Fans that I meet and interact with, I think they have a different perception.”
Marchand has had the last laugh as he faced Toronto four times in the playoffs while with the Bruins, and came out on top four times, with each series having extended to four games.
Power Surge
One of the Leafs’ major strengths this season has been a power play unit featuring Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Matthew Knies and John Tavares which finished ninth overall in the NHL at 24.8 per cent.
That crew lit up the Sens as they combined for six power play goals over the six-game series in Ottawa but they will need to be at their best of the Leafs have any hopes of knocking off Florida.
The feisty Floridians went to the box 18 times against the Lightning in Round 1, and Tampa Bay was only able to record two power-play goals over the five-game series.
The Betting Line
While the Leafs finished well ahead of the Panthers in the standings, the betting lines are favouring the bunch from South Florida in the series opener and overall.
The lines is set for Monday night’s game with Florida favoured by -1.5 although the payout is +198 on Fanduel.
For the series, the Panthers are also a hefty -184 favourite so oddsmakers do not hold much belief in the Buds.
*With files from Wire Services