Toronto Maple Leafs fans angry at Florida Panthers ticket policy - "Are they afraid of us?"

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers are all set to face each other in the second round of the playoffs on Tuesday.

The Florida Panthers turned the odds in their favor after they eliminated the Boston Bruins from Round 1 of the NHL playoffs on Sunday. After going down 3-1 in the series, the Panthers made a remarkable comeback and defeated the Boston Bruins 4-3 (OT).

The Panthers will now face the Toronto Maple Leafs in Round 2 and are hoping to get as many local supporters at FLA Live Arena for their home games in the series. In Round 2, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have home ice advantage, meaning the Florida Panthers will host the Games 3,4 and 6 (if needed).

With their home arena packed with local fans, the Panthers have decided to restrict non-US residents from attending their home games. They have decided to limit all ticket sales to US residents based on their credit card billing address.

Anyone attempting to order tickets outside of the United States will have their order canceled. Maple Leafs fans were outraged by the Florida Panthers' ticket policy and took to Twitter to express their thoughts:

This is not the first time that any team has tried to come up with such a policy during the playoffs run. The Tampa Bay Lightning have also done the same thing in the past.

The Maple Leafs have one of the biggest fan bases in the world. The Florida Panthers' ticket policy will somehow restrict some Leafs fans from entering the FLA Live Arena, but it won't completely restrict them as they can easily get tickets from a third-party source.

Another reason why the Panthers will not be able to completely stop Leafs fans entering the FLA Arena is due to the "snowbird" effect. Maple Leafs fans living in the US and particularly in Florida can simply buy tickets using their American address credit card.

It will be interesting to see how many Maple Leafs fans turn up during their road games at the FLA Live Arena. Tickets will go on sale on Monday.

Toronto Maple Leafs' journey to their first playoff series win since 2004

The Toronto Maple Leafs entered the first round of the 2023 playoffs as one of the favorites to win the the cup this time.

However, things did not go as planned for the team as they suffered a huge 7-3 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opener of the series.

Coming into Game 2, the Leafs made a huge comeback and went onto defeat the Bolts with 7-2 at home. The series was tied at 1-1 before moving to Amalie Arena in Tampa for the third game. Read the full story here.