NFL
By Jesse Rosales
With round 1 in the books and both teams pulling off series wins in their own way, the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs square off against each other in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. In one of the most likely matchups we all expected to see if the second round, we get to watch two battle-tested and star-powered teams play for the rights to move to the Eastern Conference Finals. Matthews vs Tkachuk. Verhaeghe vs Nylander. Marner vs Barkov. So many good matchups inside the games. But before we dive deeper into the matchup, let’s review how each team came out on top of their first-round matchup.
Toronto Maple Leafs Round 1 Recap:
They FINALLY did it…… That was certainly the collective thought among all hockey fans as the Toronto Maple Leafs won their first playoff series in 2004. The pressure the team was under was intense, to say the least, but what was even more impressive was the way they won and who they beat. The Tampa Bay Lightning have been the gold standard of success in the NHL over the past 5-7 years. I believe the toll of all that success on the body finally caught up with them and they were outgassed, outmatched physically, and out-skated by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The tradeline addition of Ryan O’Reilly certainly paid off in round 1 as well as O’Reilly was a huge contributor both on and off the stat sheet with 7 points and countless big play moments and situations. What a great pickup he was for the Leafs at exactly the right time.
The most impressive part of the series though to me was that the Maple Leafs won all 3 road games against Tampa Bay. That kind of thing is just unheard of for the Lightning. Furthermore, the play of goaltender Samsonov was not only good enough to match previous Conn Smythe trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy, but it was better, which no one saw coming. The Leafs absolutely got into Vasilevskiy’s head as he finished the series with a goals-against average of 3.56 and a .875 save percentage. The Maples Leafs have that monkey off their back and should be able to play more freely entering round two.
Florida Panthers Round 1 Recap:
The Boston Bruins came into the postseason off a historic year. Quite literally. They broke all kinds of records including most wins and most overall points. The Panthers on the other hand came into round 1 quite differently. Having not lived up to expectations for most of the regular season, the Panthers almost fell into the playoffs by accident thanks to the horrendous finish of the regular season by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Panthers were supposed to be the team on the outside looking in.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, and Boston held a 3-1 series lead heading back to Boston. Everyone thought it was “game, set, match”. Florida fought back, much like they did all season long, with tone-setter Matthew Tkachuk leading the way. The Panthers pulled off 3 straight victories, including 2 overtime victories at The Garden against the President Trophy-winning Bruins. Tkachuk ended with 6 points through those final 3 games and willed Florida to what has been the biggest upset so far of these playoffs. It’s not how you get to the playoffs, but how you perform once you’re in them.
Panthers vs Maple Leafs Preview:
I truly believe the Maple Leafs are playing with house money. The Maple Leafs have the more talented and experienced roster, but the same thing was said for the Boston Bruins. The Panthers are going to rely on their physicality to wear down the Maple Leafs and the question as far as who wins the series may come down to goaltending. The Panthers made a switch between the pipes during the series with Boston and it is believed that they will stick with Sergi Bobrovsky in net. While “Bob” as he is known in the hockey community, has played admirably I would say there are still plenty of question marks there.
Samsonov on the other hand proved to everyone that he is a legit #1 playoff goaltender and I think he is just playing with a ton of confidence. He finished with a goal-against average of 3.14 and a save percentage of .900 against the overall #1-seeded Bruins.
The betting markets have the Panthers as a heavy favorite at -210 to win the series, While there is some meat on the bone there I really do like the Maple Leafs at -2.5 games which is +250, or just taking the total games prop at 6 games which is getting +175 odds. My heart thinks the Maple Leafs could make fast work of the Florida Panthers, but the Panthers have a certain grit and fight that I cannot ignore. I think this will be a very physical series, but I’m taking the Toronto Maples Leafs to win in 6 games and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
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