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The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to rebound and adjust after an inconsistent effort in the opener of their Eastern Conference Semi-Final in Game 2 against the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.
The Leafs could not convert on a pair of early power plays and fell behind 2-0 to the upstart Panthers before drawing even on goals from Matthew Knies and Michael Bunting, but Toronto could not respond to Carter Verhaeghe’s breakaway goal late in the second and could not beat a red-hot Sergei Bobrovsky to narrow the Florida lead late in the contest.
Towels for tonight. ‘#LeafsForever’ pic.twitter.com/hhwcOwO7cw
— David Alter (@dalter) May 4, 2023
Tuesday’s 4-2 loss was the third for the Leafs on home ice this postseason, which has followed a league-wide pattern early in these playoffs. Toronto’s usually tight defensive game has been looser at Scotiabank Arena, as the club is averaging 4.5 goals against per game.
Along with the Leafs core group being unusually quiet and getting outplayed by the Panthers best, and Bobrovsky outplaying Ilya Samsonov, the Leafs top shutdown pairing of TJ Brodie and Jake McCabe were on the ice for three Panthers even-strength goals and had a particularly rough night. The normally dependable McCabe seemed more focused on laying out big hits and responding to Florida’s physicality, but in doing so, it took him out of position as it did on Verhaeghe’s game-winner.
Keefe indicated after the optional morning skate that he would make only one lineup change, subbing in Sam Lafferty for Zach Aston-Reese. There was some thought of going back to 11 forwards and seven defensemen, but taking away from the depth up front to insert the more mobile but defensively compromised Erik Gustafsson or Justin Holl with all of his flaws at this point did not make much sense.