The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features eight teams in four best-of-7 series, which start Monday. Today, NHL.com previews the Eastern Conference Second Round between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers.
(1A) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (3A) Florida Panthers
Maple Leafs: 52-26-4, 108 points
Panthers: 47-31-4, 98 points
Season series: TOR: 1-3-0; FLA: 3-1-0
Game 1: Monday at Toronto (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN)
Combined, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers occupied first place in the Atlantic Division for 174 of 178 game days during the 2024-25 season, so it stands to reason that the two teams would be facing off in the Eastern Conference Second Round.
After the Panthers dispatched the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games and the Maple Leafs outlasted the Ottawa Senators in the first round, the two teams will match up in the second round for the second time in three years.
The teams last met in 2023, a five-game victory for the Panthers as they made it to their first of two consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances, winning the Cup the next season.
“I feel excited, definitely,” Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said. “Playing against Toronto in Canada, it’s probably one of the best atmospheres to play in. Capital of the hockey. It’s going to be a good challenge. They have a good team – good offense, defense, good goaltender. It’s going to be a good challenge for us and all of us are excited.”
But it won’t be easy. The Maple Leafs come in with some high-powered offense, though the Panthers have the defense to match it. They limited the Lightning to 12 goals in five games, including going 2-for-18 on the power play.
It will be up to Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares to find ways to solve the pressure and aggressiveness of the Florida defense, including their smothering forecheck.
“It’s going to be another tough series,” Matthews said. “It’s the defending champs, back-to-back Cup Finals. It’s going to be hard. We’ve got to reset and do our homework and rest up, do what we can, go in there with confidence and go in there with pushback.”
The Maple Leafs won the first three games of their series against the Senators before dropping two potential elimination games to them before emerging with the victory in Game 6.
The Panthers had an easier-than-expected series against the Lightning, winning in five games, even though they were missing defenseman Aaron Ekblad for three of the games (all wins). They will be without Ekblad again in Game 1, after he was suspended for two games for elbowing Brandon Hagel in Game 4 against the Lightning.
One area the Panthers are confident that they have an edge is in experience. It’s not surprising after they have been to the Cup Final in each of the past two seasons; the Maple Leafs have not been past the second round since 2002.
“Experience is the one aspect of it – we have a lot of guys who went through those series and that year and last year and now this year,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “We have a lot more experience playing in the playoffs.
“But every year is different. They have a lot of new guys, new systems, new coach. They’ve been playing really well this year, they played good in the first round, so it’s going to be tough either way. All we can do is just concentrate on ourselves and our game and our game plan and go and do it.”
Game breakers
Maple Leafs: There are many choices on the stacked offense of the Maple Leafs, but Nylander was the team’s leading scorer in the first round against the Ottawa Senators, with nine points (three goals, six assists) in six games, including four points (one goal, three assists) on the power play. When Nylander is on, he can be a game-changer, as witnessed in the two goals and assist he had in the deciding Game 6. For the Maple Leafs to get past the punishing Panthers, they will need everything that Nylander can give them.
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