Round 2, Game 1 Recap: Panthers 4, Maple Leafs 5

Round 2, Game 1 Recap: Panthers 4, Maple Leafs 5

Welcome to Panther Priy, the podcast where we’re supposed to talk Panthers hockey, but sometimes we don’t. Presented by Florida Hockey. Now, here are your hosts, Jacob Langom, Alex Lopez, and TJ Peterson. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Panther Pereira, a Florida Hockey Now podcast. I am your host, Jacob Langam. Here with me as always is myself, Jacob Langam. Alex and TJ are both on vacation. Alex will be returning uh I believe for game two. TJ is enjoying himself at Goodison Park to see his beloved Everton play before uh before they move to their new stadium uh and will be on LTIR until the end of round two. Uh Panthers dropped game one of the second round series by a score of five to four. Absolute thriller of a game as it turned out. uh shortened seemed like it was going to be William Nelander scores 30 seconds in to open it up. You know, kind of puts Panthers fans on edge right away. Leafs score again. William Nelander again. Uh Panthers get within one. Seth Jones on the power play. Uh Leafs make it 3-1. Leafs make it 4-1. Uh and then the third period happened and that was a much more fun uh time to be a Florida Panthers fan watching this particular hockey game. The Panthers draw within one. Leaf score again, go up 5-3. And then at the very end, uh, with the with the net empty, the Panthers get it to 54, but unfortunately cannot complete the comeback, uh, and drop game one in Toronto. Uh, a lot happened in this game that is worth discussing. I think the first thing right off the top that we do need to mention is Sam Bennett and Anthony Stolars. I just want to get this one out of the way. Anthony Stolars did leave this game uh with some sort of either injury or sickness, most likely a concussion. I am not a doctor. He was not pulled by concussion spotters. Uh but Joseph Wool did enter this game in relief of Anthony Stolars who could be seen quite nauseous uh in front of the Leaf bench before being pulled from the game. There are two incidents in particular that we need to discuss. Uh the first is obviously well the first is actually the second of the incidents but it is the Sam Bennett uh arm contact to Anthony Star’s head. Uh my gut reaction to that, my knee-jerk reaction was dirty hit. It’s Sam Bennett. Uh I he knows where his body is. I I don’t think he has intent to injure, but it’s still a dirty a dirty play. You know, you can’t can’t hit a goalie in the head like that. Uh, but with each replay that I watched of it, uh, I kind of changed my tune a little bit. Uh, Bennett took a shot near the net, sharp angle, uh, and then crashes the net to chase his rebound. And in chasing his rebound, Anthony Stallar is also, of course, trying to get to that puck. They they collide and the collision point is Sam Bennett’s arm, forearm into Anthony Stoolars’s head. I don’t want to downplay any head contact. Uh head contact is an extremely serious issue. CTE and concussions should always be taken very seriously, which is why I really want to call out a concussion spotter who probably should have, you know, take a guy out of the game. The other moment that I do want to talk about relative to Anthony Stolars getting hit in the head was a wrist shot taken by Sam Reinhardt. It was a very hard shot pretty early on in the game that knocked Stallars’s mask off. I think that’s the inciting incident here that caused Stallars to have some head issues. Uh maybe he should have been taken out by a concussion spotter at that point, but you know, Moot, he wasn’t. Uh, and then Sam Bennett’s collision with Stlars probably just exacerbated whatever was caused by that initial snapshot from Reinhardt. Uh, and eventually Stallars leaves the game. Joseph Wall comes in in relief. Uh, and admittedly that is when the Panthers start mounting this very dramatic comeback. Um, hopefully Anthony Stolars is okay. Sam Bennett was obviously not made available uh to the national media after the game. Anthony Stlars reportedly left the arena on a stretcher. Uh so we will obviously have to wait to see what happened with that. Uh but obviously our our thoughts are with Anthony Stolars in this moment as uh as we await uh any news about his well-being. Now on to the game. Uh honestly, despite everything, really strong game by the Panthers. Uh especially in the final 25 minutes. Uh just looking at the shot attempt share here. Toronto controlled play uh in the first shot attempts were 16-8 in their favorite five on five uh leading to a 66.66 repeating naturally uh cory4 percentage but in periods two and three and perhaps you can call it score effects. Um, you know, teams when they’re behind, especially behind big, always always have this nasty habit of just shooting pucks from anywhere. Uh, but you see you see the Corsy4 percentage shift uh from that 6634 uh or 6733 Leafs advantage in the first period to a 7426 Panthers advantage in the second and a 7525 advantage in the third. Uh so Panthers really controlled that run of play uh in the second and third period and it wasn’t just quantity. They weren’t just uh you know shoot from anywhere and see what sticks. Uh Panthers really owned the scoring chances for percentage uh and expected goals for percentage in in the second and third periods. Um so the quality was there as well. You know, the Panthers do end up scoring four goals in this game, which under normal circumstances probably wins you the game. Um, unfortunately, there was just a little bit too much Toronto. Uh, a couple of goals that Bob would probably like to have back, a couple of pinches that the Panthers defense would probably like to have back, but ultimately the comeback does fall short uh for the Florida Panthers and they do lose 5 to4. Some high points from this game. Uh, I want to give a huge shout out to Seth Jones who I thought looked phenomenal tonight. Uh, you know, he had the opening goal on the power play, just a beautiful shot from the point that beat Stallars clean. Um, he also made some really, really clutch defensive plays on what otherwise would have been golden scoring chances uh for the Maple Leafs uh during the comeback in the second and third period. Uh so he continues his very strong run of play from uh from round one where I referred to him as one of the stars of of the round. Uh third line another very strong game. Uh Etu scored one of the goals in the third period during that comeback. Uh Marshian and Lundell both played extremely well uh leading up to that play and I believe the Uvisas Bolinska’s goal uh was also during a third line shift. Uh so another really strong performance by by that line. Uh unfortunately, you know, we have to give the number one star of this game to William Nelander. Uh and his two goals, one assist for a three-point stat line. Uh all of which I believe were in the first period. But I think he’s containable. You know, Austin Matthews was more or less contained uh including missing the empty net during the third period uh late late in the game. Um, I mean, he had what seemed like a pretty open shot from his offensive blue line and just just went wide. Very uncharacteristic of a of a goal scorer of his caliber, but, you know, just completely missed the net on on the empty net. Another very strong showing by the Panthers penalty killing unit, uh, which did go five for five tonight, uh, against the very strong Toronto five forward power play. No short-handed goals in this one, but uh shout out to our buddy Dom Lucian from The Athletic, who still does expect the Panthers to to get at least one of those at some point during the series. And you did see the workings of how that could happen during this game. Uh one of those power plays, to be fair, was neutralized by a too many men on the ice penalty against Toronto. Uh but still overall, Panthers penalty kill perfect tonight. And I especially want to shout out one of those final penalty kills during which Nico Sturm gave his stick to Seth Jones who had just broken his uh Nico being a left-handed shot. Uh Seth being a right-handed shot. So again, credit to Nico Stern for having that awareness to give the stick to the defenseman who was missing it. And credit to Seth Jones for effectively defending a power play with a stick that was bent the wrong direction. So, I do think there’s a lot to look forward to if you are a Florida Panthers fan here. You know, one one very important note is this was generally considered to be a poorly played game by the Panthers, especially in the first half of that game. Uh, and it was generally considered to be an exceptionally wellplayed uh game by Toronto. So given those two points, for that to combine into a 54 thriller, you should feel pretty good as a Panthers fan going into game two on Wednesday. Uh and and the rest of the series. So I I do think we should kind of keep our hopes up here. Uh by no means should we be panicking, giving up anything like that just yet. You know, it sucks to lose game one of a playoff series, but a lot of hockey still left to play uh still left to play in this series. And if we get the Panthers that we saw in the second half of this game going forward, uh then there is a lot to look forward to about the way that this series may go. Now, I tweeted out earlier today that uh we were going to do a mailbag segment and I would effectively use you all as my co-hosts tonight. Uh, so I’m going to go ahead and open that mailbag up. Uh, and let’s start let’s start mailbagging. The first question, uh, from David Lopez at D Lopez1099. Which defensive pairing on the lease do you expect us to attack? Uh, that was really a pregame question more than a more than a question about what ended up happening. Uh, but there isn’t really a deep pairing that I think the Panthers targeted uh, specifically tonight. Uh, I think that they really just believe that they’d be able to take on any pairing at any point. Uh, you know, Barov played, for example, played eight minutes against McCabe and Tanv, four minutes against Oel Riley. So, like, you’re you’re you’re more or less getting the minutes that you’d expect from a lot of these guys there. There weren’t really any intentional matchups. You’re not trying to put Barov out against like Benois and Carlo. So, I I really don’t think that the Panthers were trying to target any particular line. I I I think that the Panthers truly do believe uh that any forward grouping can beat any defenseman. Uh and that I I think that that really did show uh throughout game one here. Uh second question, let’s go to Chris Cross uh at Chris FSL Commission. Can the Leafs keep up this frantic pace all series? Uh at that point the game was very much being controlled by Toronto. Uh can they? I doubt it. I think that uh the the way that they were playing takes up a lot of energy and I think that the Panthers will eventually grind them down uh if they try to keep playing with that much energy. Let’s not forget that this Panthers team in particular can keep up with and outlast anyone. Uh, so I I don’t think that they can keep this pace up in a way that will end well for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Thank you for your question, Chris. Next question comes from Jortme Goat1. And Jort asks, “I need an honest answer. This feels like a team that was frustrating to watch through stretches of the season. Uh, is this a fluke game for us or a sign of how the Leafs are going to look all series? I don’t know if I have enough whiskey for more games like this.” Uh George, I would I would be very interested to know uh at what point in the game you did submit that question. Similar kind of question to the uh to the previous one. Uh I would recommend buying one more bottle of whiskey, perhaps some tequila uh if you want to have something uh in the back to celebrate with because I do still believe uh that this series will go in the Panthers direction. I do think it’s a fluke. There are a lot of things that the Panthers did that I don’t think that they will do again. Uh this should be Sergey Babrosk’s worst game uh of the series. Uh I think that these highly risky pinches that led to a lot of the rush chances that Toronto scored on uh will be cleaned up. I don’t think the power play will be as dead as it was today. I don’t think that Matthew Kachchuck is going to go through this series with zero shots on goal. So, I I think it was a fluke game. Uh, and I I I think it was a fluke game more in the Panthers won’t play this poorly again more so than the Leafs will won’t play as well. Uh, the Leafs are still an excellent hockey team. Uh, that, you know, you shouldn’t necessarily be you you shouldn’t brush them off by any means. Um, but I I don’t think that uh I I don’t think that the Leafs will control the scoreboard uh throughout the series the way that they did tonight. I I really do believe that this game was a fluke. Uh, next question from Ben SGL at PC Dunce. Why is Boquist still in the lineup? Great question, Ben. Uh, I would like to have an answer for that myself. Uh, Yasper Boowquist, short of Mackie Samuskavich, who hasn’t played in the last few games, uh, Yesper Boquist has been the worst Panthers forward in this postseason. Uh, and Paul Maurice does like to make, uh, does like to tinker with the lineup a little bit after a loss. So, I do think that we probably end up seeing uh, Mackie Samusavich work back into the lineup. uh possibly over Boowquist, but more likely I think over AJ Greer. The real answer to your question, why is Boowquist still in the lineup? Uh is because throughout the entirety of the regular season, Boquist has been a really strong and reliable depth forward who can play anywhere in the bottom nine and be at worst invisible in a good way, but he he’s been playing very poorly so far in this postseason. Uh tonight I think the most notable moment was uh he kind of just let William Nelander skate by him leading up to Nelander’s second goal. You you could see in the replay of that goal Boquist like starting to skate as Nelander receives the puck already behind him. That’s a position where if you’re Yes for Boquist your job there is to prevent Nelander from getting the puck in the first place. and he’s made a couple of mistakes like that, a couple of coverage mistakes like that throughout this postseason. Uh I I there’s reason to believe that it won’t continue or shouldn’t continue, but you know, when it’s when it keeps up for as long as it has over the last six games, I I think Boquist might be next in line to uh to maybe get a game off to recoup. Thank you for your question, Ben. Uh next question is from Corey Chia at Corey Charelli. Any relation to uh to Peter Charelli, Corey? I’d be interested. I doubt it, but it’d be it’d be fun. Uh Babroski had a shaky first period. Do you think he’ll play more like he did versus the Lightning? Cory, I I like I said earlier, uh I I really doubt that Babski plays as poorly uh going forward as he did tonight. Not all of it is his fault, obviously. You know, risky pinches by defenseman leading to oddman rushes, uh a couple of breakaway chances. is, you know, Bob did make some very, very strong saves towards the end uh of this game. The Bob that we saw against Tampa is much closer to the real Sergey Babski. Perhaps he overplayed a little bit against Tampa. That’s that’s closer to the Sergey Babski that, you know, that we saw even last postseason. Uh so I I don’t think that the first period is indicative of how he’ll play through the rest of this series. uh especially as those defensive mistakes clean themselves up. Thank you for your question, Corey. Uh and I believe the final question that I’m going to touch on here, very important from uh from our buddy Dylan at Miami Guy Dylan. Uh if you could choose two Panthers to replace your co-hosts who again are notably missing from this episode, uh who would it be and why? Uh number one, I’m going to go with Matthew Kachchuck. I think Matthew Kachchuck has so much swagger and is so much fun. I think he would bring such a fun energy to the show uh and always be a kind of a shitster uh on the show the same way he’s a shitster on the ice uh but in a very fun way. Uh, and I think the the proper pair with that uh would probably be Sam Reinhardt, who has been hailed as one of the smarter players uh in the league, really knows the game well, reads the X’s and O’s um which is, you know, which is evidenced by uh his Selki finalist uh nomination uh that came out over this weekend. I think uh I think Sam Reinhardt would be a really fun I think Reinhardt would just be a really fun uh like student of the game kind of co-host to go with us uh as well. So that would kind of be my dream Panthers cameo co-hosts would be Matthew Kachchuck and Sam Reinhardt. Thank you very much for your question Dylan. Not too much more to add uh on this one. So thank you all for your questions. rate us five stars on YouTube where we have been posting uh some of our episodes while we work through some of our hosting issues hopefully which should be resolved shortly here. But for now, find us on YouTube, rate us on YouTube. Good night everybody and go Panthers.

We are underway in Round 2 as the Panthers fall just short of a huge third period comeback. Jacob breaks down game 1, what the Panthers can clean up, how he feels going forward, and touches on the Anthony Stolarz situation.