Let's keep the Maple Leafs' series lead in perspective after OT loss
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Taking a 3-0 lead in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Ottawa Senators was one thing.
Expecting to take a similar stranglehold against the defending Cup champion Florida Panthers was asking for too much.
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Let's keep the Maple Leafs' series lead in perspective after OT loss Back to video
The Maple Leafs couldn’t get the decisive goal in overtime on Friday night at Amerant Bank Arena and lost 5-4 when Brad Marchand — who else could it have been — scored at 15:27.
Once the Leafs start physically recovering on Saturday, they are bound to keep in mind that they lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Sunday night in Sunrise.
Our takeaways from Friday night:
THE BIG PICTURE
A 3-0 lead against Florida, which also played in the 2023 Cup final when it lost to Vegas, would have been dreamy for Leafs Nation.
By no means, though, are the Leafs in a nightmare situation because they lost Game 3.
Let’s keep some perspective here. The players certainly are.
“We’re happy to be up in the series,” defenceman Morgan Rielly told media in Sunrise after the game. “Tonight isn’t the result we wanted, but there are good things going on.
“We’re in a good position. So it’s important that we keep focus, have a good day (Saturday), and get ready to play (on Sunday).”
Said John Tavares, who scored his first two goals of the series: “We know we can be better. We have to be. It’s a great chance for us to regroup and get back at it on Sunday.”
What Tavares acknowledged, knowing the team can be better, was important. Though the Leafs shouldn’t have any negative thoughts about being up 2-1, they probably don’t have much interest in heading home for Game 5 on Wednesday tied 2-2.
There should be confidence for the Leafs in scoring another four goals on Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. He stood tall in overtime, especially with saves on William Nylander and Matthew Knies, but his save percentage in the series now stands at .840. Bobrovsky certainly is not providing the kind of goaltending that leave the Leafs muttering to themselves in frustration.
On three of their four goals, the Leafs were buzzing in front of Bobrovsky. They’re getting to the inside in the offensive zone. That has to continue on Sunday.
Three of the Panthers’ goals came off deflections or redirections. Those weren’t the fault of goalie Joseph Woll.
THE STARS
After everything he did as the Leafs won the first two games of the series — scoring three goals and recording an assist — Nylander didn’t have a good night in Game 3.
Go after Nylander if you want for his lack of effort before Marchand scored in overtime, but keep in mind that Nylander was at the end of a shift that had stretched to one minute 42 seconds when the puck went off Rielly and over Woll for the winner. Nylander had 32 shifts on Friday night, averaging 44 seconds. His OT shift was the equivalent of an eternity for a hockey player.
What was a little more troublesome, and we know that Nylander can turn it around and be a controlling factor in Game 4, is that he didn’t have a shot on goal until Bobrovsky stopped him on a semi-breakaway in OT.
When Nylander was on the ice at five-on-five, the Panthers had 15 shots on goal. None of the other Leafs forwards were on the ice for that many shots against at five-on-five.
The hope has to be that Game 3 was a one-off for Nylander, because the Leafs need him to be a lot better if they’re going to give themselves their best shot at winning Game 4.
Captain Auston Matthews had two assists in the game, but he has not scored a goal in the series and has just two in nine playoffs games. Yes, the series has been tight, yet Matthews should be finding an extra gear offensively. Perhaps the injury that popped up earlier in the season is taking a bite out of him now. Even if it is, Matthews would be loath to acknowledge as much. At any rate, Matthews is doing a lot of other things well, making a difference in areas that don’t garner as much attention.
Mitch Marner had two assists. Generally, we’re fine with what Matthews, Nylander and Marner have done in the series. It’s only going to get more difficult, though, and each has to find a way to make a bit more of an offensive difference.
THE SECOND AND THIRD
The best way to describe what happened in the second period was that in the Craig Berube era, definitely in the playoffs, it was an aberration.
Allowing three goals in a span of just under 11 minutes isn’t a habit for the Leafs, let alone two in 64 seconds, especially when those three goals resulted in a lead change in Florida’s favour.
“We weren’t direct in the second, turned too many pucks over, allowed them to come back at us and play their game and got hemmed in too much,” Berube said.
In a game that was determined by bounces, the Leafs recovered in the third, with Rielly scoring the only goal of the period to send the game to extra time. The Panthers won in the end, but they didn’t beat a Leafs team that was lucky just to get to overtime. It required determination on the part of the home team.
What did Berube take from the Leafs’ push in the third?
“We got back playing our game, and we’re pressuring and putting pressure on them, and getting pucks in behind him and going to work,” Berube said. “We have to continue to do that. And then in overtime, we had our opportunities.
“It’s a bounce. That’s what happens in overtime a lot.”
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