TORONTO — Could this be happening?
For real for real?
The Toronto Maple Leafs entered this second round as the greatest underdogs of any of their post-season series since 2017, when they were fresh-faced, house-money kids who were more likely to get ID’d at the door than grow legitimate playoff beards.
And now, three nights and nine goals later, they have the champs on the ropes and will be hopping on a flight to Fort Lauderdale with a chance to eliminate the greasy, fantastic, and suddenly fallible Florida Panthers.
The last team to accomplish that feat only won the Stanley Cup.
Those 2023 Vegas Golden Knights were also the last time to mount a 2-0 series lead over the Panthers — and Florida as a franchise is 0-5 in best-of-sevens when trying to claw out of a hole that deep so early.
But even though Leafs Nation has every right to bask in the joy of what is already the longest post-season run of the Auston Matthews–Mitch Marner–William Nylander–Morgan Rielly era — and a torrid, if often stressful, 15-3 run — let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
As those Bon Jovi–singing rookies from 2017 would say: Whoa… we’re halfway there.
The Panthers, who pressured Toronto with ferocity right till the buzzer of Wednesday’s 4-3 victory, will not surrender the crown with grace.
“They got the best of us in their building,” hard-nosed defenceman Aaron Ekblad said postgame. “And we’ll find a way to do it in ours.”
For now, though, Toronto’s GPS is calculating all routes to Winsville.
Against the wild-card Ottawa Senators, they bared down in overtimes, blocked shots like they were trying to out-bruise each other, and dined out on a passive penalty kill.
Versus the Panthers, it’s been an elevated intensity, a commendable level of discipline, and an opportunistic barrage of 5-on-5 scoring.
“Shows how dangerous they are,” said Brad Marchand, who has never lost a series to Toronto. “Doesn’t take much for them to score. So, we have to make sure we’re pretty much perfect out there on our defensive coverage.”
They’ve humanized future Hall of Fame goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky — who owned the Leafs in this round two Mays ago — beating him on breakaways and rush plays, rebounds and point-shot sifters. Like the 56-footer Mitch Marner wristed high for the winner.
Yikes.
“I didn’t love his first game,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “Up until the fourth one (in Game 2), I don’t look at him for any of the first three. We didn’t give up a tremendous amount tonight, but the danger on the rush is significant. The goalie is going to be fine.”
Ekblad predicts a divine bounce-back from the netminder: “God mode — that’s what we’ve come to love about Bobby. Not to mention he’s the greatest person on Earth.”
Here on solid ground, though, all the frightening hallmarks of a Maple Leafs playoff collapse — failing to get to middle ice, hideous special teams, dumbo penalties, second-best goaltending, lack of bottom-six trust — have been buried.
At least, temporarily.
In each of their past three wins, a potentially momentum-altering goal by the opposition (David Perron, Seth Jones, Anton Lundell) was met with a Leafs goal (Pacioretty, Rielly, Marner) less than two minutes later.
Crisis averted.
They look, dare we say, different.
Stronger. Smarter. Deeper.
“Absolutely,” Marchand said. “They’re continuing to get better and grow as a group. They brought a lot of good pieces in at the deadline and the off-season to address their back end. They’re heavy back there. Their coaching has changed, and their structure is very good, especially in the D-zone. They don’t give up a whole lot around the net.
“We have our work cut out. They’re playing really well, and their top guys are capitalizing on every opportunity, it seems like.”
William Nylander has led the charge. But contributions from a rested and rejuvenated Max Pacioretty, an active, productive blue line, and a second wave of forwards have spread the wealth.
Locked-in starter Anthony Stolarz gets taken out with a head injury, and backup Joseph Woll steps in and calmly gets the job done.
“That’s what we need,” Nylander said. “Everybody just working their bag off and trying to play their best every night.”
“It’s not to say that we dominated the game by any means. But we had guys that were feeling good and doing all the little things all over the ice that sometimes you don’t get rewarded for,” said Pacioretty, careful not to assume they’ll score another four or five in Game 3.
“Well, it’s not gonna last. We know that. (Bobrovsky) is one of the best goalies in the league, and we’ve got to make life hard on him as the series goes on. And two games doesn’t mean anything, especially when it comes to a goaltender like that that’s had success for so long.
“We definitely got to make life harder on him next game. Try and get in his kitchen a little bit and keep him deep in his net.”
The task will only grow more difficult, of course, as the Panthers grow more desperate.
But the math doesn’t lie. The Cats are down to their final two lives.
“These series can change on a dime,” reminded Marchand, speaking like a man with only 20 cents in his pocket.
And those can be the most dangerous.
Fox’s Fast Five
• The way 36-year-old Pacioretty has stepped into these playoffs — racking up six points in the three games he’s seen top-six action — Brad Treliving will happily shell out that $626,230 in cap overage charges for 2025-26.
Pacioretty’s first-period power-play marker ended Florida’s perfect 7-for-7 penalty kill to start this series, then he added an assist on Nylander’s strike.
“He’s a big frame out there. He’s moving great,” Marner says. “Just to see him doing what he does and playing at such a high level for us, it’s really good, especially with the amount of work and just the grind mentally it’s probably taken the last three years with what’s happened to his body.
“So, it’s great to see him get rewarded the last couple games, and he’s working his ass off.”
Nick Robertson’s wait lengthens…
• The combination of Eetu Luostarinen, Brad Marchand, and Anton Lundell has been Florida’s most effective line in this series, and it’s not particularly close.
Shot attempts are 28-14, shots are 13-6, and the score is 4-1 when they’re on the ice together. They look fierce and safe all at once.
“I don’t really view them as a third line, based on their production. They have been good since they’ve been together, and I think they are still getting better and growing,” Maurice says.
“There is a lot we can do with that line playing as well as it is.”
• Craig Berube gave a postgame soliloquy on Nylander, who moved into a tie with Connor McDavid in the playoff scoring race (13 points):
“Nothing gets to him. He doesn’t feel pressure. I could be wrong, but this is what I see. There is no too big a stage for this guy. He thrives on this stuff. He looks forward to it. He wants to be in all of those critical situations.
“When he smells something, he is there. That goal he scored is as high-end as it gets with his hands. He has great, great skill with his hands. Those are unreal hands he has. He has the ability on his skates with his cutbacks and all of that.
“He is a high-end player. He really is. I don’t think he feels pressure or anything. He just plays.
“And he doesn’t want me to talk to him. Just leave him alone. I probably should just leave him alone.”
• Quote of the Day.
“Are they bringing their skates?” —Maurice, when asked about Sam Bennett’s ability to handle an angry Leafs fan base
Leafs Nation was torn over whom too boo louder Wednesday, arch nemesis Marchand or public enemy No. 1 Bennett.
• We thought Max Domi’s “cross-check” was a curious call in Game 1, but whistling Evan Rodrigues for embellishment after Scott Laughton checked his face into the glass and sent him to the room for repairs is, uh, something:
Maurice says he did not receive an explanation for Rodrigues’ penalty.
