Opinion | The Maple Leafs still haven’t figured out the pesky Panthers — and time is running out

Sometimes you have to play eff-you hockey, in your own way. The Maple Leafs used to be designed for speed and skill and sure, maybe some veteran grit along the edges, but chiefly they were a scoring machine that orbited their young stars. This year, they’ve changed. The trade deadline fortified a team that was already a more defensive group than in the past. These Leafs were designed to play competitive, composed, smart hockey.

And then, in Game 2 of this second-round series, the Florida Panthers fell behind 2-0 and hit the playoff hockey button, playing in that space between prison rules and they-can’t-call-em-all with some perfectly legal hitting and ferocious forechecking and one injury-causing assault in there, too. That probably wasn’t why the Leafs gave up two pucks in their own zone to start the second period and fell behind 3-2. But it was part of the game’s weather, and it made a dent.

What Toronto needed wasn’t “Slap Shot.” The Leafs needed to keep their heads and compete like bastards, and in the third period they tried. William Nylander awoke with a vengeance, after being on the ice for all three Panthers goals, and Toronto’s stars took chances trying to beat Sergei Bobrovsky. The Leafs were flying and grinding, winning puck battles, moving their feet.

But Bobrovsky was good Bob for a second straight game, and the Leafs had put themselves in a position to both chase the game and the series. They lost 3-2, and now head to Florida needing to win four of the next five games to win this series.

“I don’t think (our physicality is) necessarily wearing on them, because the series just started,” said Matthew Tkachuk, who assisted on Florida’s third goal. “But I know what made us successful in the last series. We’re not just running around like animals right now, we’re just trying to play to our identity. And I know for myself and (my line), that’s what makes us successful is getting in on the forecheck, getting a bump, trying to get the puck back.”

That’s what happened. The Leafs skated Florida’s doors off to start, and were up 2-0 after five minutes. They looked like a team in charge. But it turned. The first Panthers goal was a forecheck in which Eetu Luostarinen absolutely buried Timothy Liljegren, John Tavares fell down, and Florida dug a goal out of the turnover. The next two, early in the second, came 20 seconds apart on a William Nylander turnover and an Auston Matthews turnover, and Florida ran around and the Leafs looked rattled for a while. They trailed heading to the third.

“Disappointing. Baffling, frankly,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Didn’t make those mistakes one time in the last series.”

“You know the counters that Toronto does?” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Nylander picks it up, or Marner or Matthews … and it’s not as easy to stop as you think. Our forecheck is what we’re built to do. We have these kinds of players, we’re really good at it. They have those kinds of players that are amazing at it, right? I think the best counter team in the league. So we each have our strengths.”      

Clearly, Toronto needs more from its strengths. Keefe had talked before the game about his team’s evolution away from speed and skill and carrying the puck into a team that is more competitive and defensively sturdy. He also mentioned that the Leafs made mistakes in Game 1 of this series they didn’t make against Tampa, and the reason they were here is they hadn’t made them against Tampa.

“I think that’s where we’ve gotten better,” Keefe said. “I think we’re a much smarter team in terms of how we play, more experienced, much more diligent in that way. So it may not always look the way that we want it to, but we believe that process is there, it’s good enough that you won’t beat ourselves.”

Well, about that. After scoring two goals in the first five minutes the Leafs didn’t score again, as the Panthers dialed up the muck. Midway through the first period, Florida’s Sam Bennett mugged Matthew Knies behind the Florida net, swinging him to the ice by his face, and while Knies played the rest of the period, he didn’t return for the second and was declared out for the night.

“I didn’t love it, obviously,” Tavares said.

Florida kept it up in the second: high sticks, interference, potshots, hip checks, playoff hockey, and the Leafs looked increasingly stunned. This Leafs team is grittier, tougher. Schenn is a wise heavyweight uncle, and Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari and Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty are fine with rough weather.

“It’s playoff hockey,” Tavares said. “Those are the things that you’re aware of, and we’re just trying to stay disciplined and be on the right side of it. Playing hard, playing physical, competing, our competitiveness at a high level. But you know, we’re not getting sucked into anything, and really what matters (is) just playing the game and having to execute.”

Toronto looked more like the old Leafs in the third period. They controlled the puck and skated the Panthers into the parking lot. Still, the Leafs didn’t get to the net quite as much as they would have liked and, while Nylander was close to his best self in the final 20 minutes, nothing went in. Game 3 is now the closest thing to a must-win the Leafs have faced all season.

“Is big opportunity for us,” said Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who stopped 26 of 29 shots. “This time where we need to show people we’re not like … show people we’re really good team. you know, like how hard we work, how we come back, 2-0, 3-0, doesn’t matter for us. We need to show this.”

He was asked whether Bobrovsky’s performance was something he felt he needed to match. He said, “I don’t give a f-.”

The Leafs could probably use some of that attitude. They can still win this series. This Florida team is not as sharp and oppressive as Tampa Bay could be, but the Panthers are proving very good at mucking up the game and eating Toronto’s mistakes. The Leafs haven’t quite found a way to play this team through two games, and will have two full days to think about it.

But Game 3 Sunday could come very close to ending this Leafs season. They’d better think hard.

SHARE: