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Betting line underdogs — despite home-ice advantage — the Maple Leafs are hoping to make a Game 1 statement as they enter the second round for just the second time in the Mathews era, two years after their slow start to the series cost them versus these Florida Panthers
Keys to Game 1
– It will be interesting to monitor which matchups Craig Berube tries to dictate on home ice. The idea of L1 versus L1 makes sense, knowing Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart against the Leafs‘ other lines is not an appetizing proposition. The Leafs can keep the Morgan Rielly-Brandon Carlo pairing with their top line and match up Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev against Florida’s Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk line. But we’ll see what route Berube ultimately takes.
– In the first round, the Leafs came out flying in G1, playing with pace and physicality. They need more of the same tonight. Get the crowd going, initiate physically, and play without fear against the Panthers.
– Berube clearly wants the Leafs to play whistle to whistle and not get caught up in the Panthers’ trap/nonsense.
– A lot of this series will be decided at both net fronts. Can the Leafs get inside on the Panthers’ big defense and make Sergei Bobrovsky uncomfortable? Can they box out the Panthers in front of their own net? There likely won’t be much easy offense available in this series, so the Leafs will need to really battle in front at both ends of the ice.
– We broke down the special teams in full earlier today, but one way the Leafs can limit the impact of Florida’s physicality is by making them pay on the man advantage. It’s also their best opportunity to produce against this Panthers team in general. Against a deep, elite Panthers penalty kill, the Leafs’ power play needs urgency, traffic, and shot volume. Set the tone in Game 1.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#67 Max Pacioretty — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#18 Steven Lorentz — #24 Scott Laughton — #19 Calle Jarnkrok
#74 Bobby McMann — #29 Pontus Holmberg — #11 Max Domi
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit — #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Goaltenders
Starter: #41 Anthony Stolarz
#60 Joseph Woll
Extras: Nick Robertson, David Kampf, Ryan Reaves, Philippe Myers, Dakota Mermis, Artur Akhtyamov, Jani Hakanpaa
Florida Panthers Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Carter Verhaeghe — #16 Aleksander Barkov — #13 Sam Reinhart
#17 Evan Rodrigues — #9 Sam Bennett — #19 Matthew Tkachuk
#27 Eetu Luostarinen — #15 Anton Lundell — #63 Brad Marchand
#10 AJ Greer — #8 Nico Sturm — #70 Jesper Boqvist
Defensemen
#42 Gustav Forsling — #3 Seth Jones
#77 Niko Mikkola — #7 Dmitry Kulikov
#26 Uvi Balinskis — #88 Nate Schmidt
Goaltenders
Starter: #72 Sergei Bobrovsky
#41 Vitek Vanecek
Suspended: Aaron Ekblad (one game remaining)
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