The Florida Panthers are making their fourth straight appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round, taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are hoping to make their way into the Conference Final for the first time since 2003. The Panthers are the reigning champions, yet the spotlight seems to be fully on the Leafs’ shoulders, and Matthew Tkachuk is well aware of it, as he added another layer of pressure for Auston Matthews and the rest of the team.
Florida has learnt to deal with the cameras and the attention, while Toronto has continuosly suffered when the spotlight is between its eyes, being blinded in the biggest moments of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As both sides meet in the postseason for the first time since the 2022-23 NHL campaign, when the Cats gentlemanly swept the Leafs in the second round.
This time, the Maple Leafs budge to show a different version, yet fans across the NHL are still skeptic. Seeing is believing, and Toronto hasn’t helped its case as they struggled to close out their first round series against the Senators. Meanwhile, Tkachuk and the Panthers steamrolled the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games, comfortably moving on to the Conference Semifinal.
Ahead of Game 1 at Scotiabank Arena, Tkachuk dropped a sincere statement about the Panthers’ mindset, warning Matthews and the Maple Leafs, who will immediately sense the pressure from their fans and media if things turn south.
Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates against the Columbus blue Jackets.
“It’s that us against the world mentality that we’ve talked about for a few years now,” Panthers’Matthew Tkachuk admittd prior to Game 1, via NHL.com. “It seems that when we go up against the toughest tasks and the great teams, we seem to relish that opportunity. Hopefully we can do that again and in this series because Toronto’s one of the best teams in the league.”
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Tkachuk and the Panthers have seemingly taken some weight off this upcoming matchup, as the American star challenged the Leafs, bragging about Florida’s recent success, while Toronto must win this series, or the noise in The Six will be insufferable.
Different beast
While Florida can find relief and confidence in their past playoff victory over Toronto, much has changed since, for both sides, and it will be a brand new series that kickstarts on May 5.
The Maple Leafs, under Craig Berube, have shown a very different style of play, adopting similar tendencies and habits to those of Paul Maurice’s Cats. Toronto is looking like a true playoff team, embracing the forecheck, and playing along the boards more often.
Moreover, Berube has three former Panthers among his ranks, with Anthony Stolarz, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Steven Lorentz, all three who hoisted the Stanley Cup last season with Tkachuk and the Panthers.
Matthew Tkachuk #19 of the Florida Panthers skates against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on January 27, 2024 in Elmont, New York.
All in on special teams
Perhaps the biggest invention by Berube on the Leafs, which played a huge role in the series win over the Senators, was Toronto’s five-forward power play unit, which scored in 35.3% of its opportunities.
The Panthers must find a way to neutralize a prolific power-play unit featuring Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Matthew Knies, and William Nylander—a lethal combination with extra space on the ice.
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However, if the Panthers can assert their dominance over the five-forward power-play unit, it could turn into a blessing in disguise for the Cats—who led all playoff teams with 12 shorthanded goals during the regular season.
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Matthews and Toronto’s third-ranked power play will go head-to-head with Tkachuk and Florida’s second-best penalty kill in the postseason—a classic case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. But something has to give when the Maple Leafs and Panthers hit the ice in this frantic Stanley Cup Playoffs showdown.
