Toronto Maple Leafs vs Florida Panthers Game 2: Preview, lines, predictions, 2023 NHL Playoffs

Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers went into the second round of the playoffs after upsetting the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins, respectively.

The Leafs making the playoffs over Tampa was a surprise to many, but the Panthers sending the best regular season team in NHL history home is something no one would have expected.

Florida Panthers played one extra game in the first round over the Toronto Maple Leafs who won their series 4-2. Panthers were a "little fatigued" per their coach Paul Maurice. But he said that the same has been used to a heavy schedule since January.

The Panthers showed no signs of stopping and continued their momentum from the Bruins series and beat the Leafs 4-2 in Game 1.

Nick Cousins opened the scoring for the Panthers in the first period, netting a goal from a Matthew Tkachuk assist, his first of three for the day.

Sam Bennett gave the Panthers a 2-0 in the seventh minute of the second period. Soon after, Matthew Knies scored his first NHL goal from an Auston Matthews assist.

Michael Bunting made it 2-2 and equalized the game 14:51 into the second period. Carter Verhaeghe, who scored the winner against the Bruins in Game 7, gave the Panthers the lead once again as the second period came to a close.

Brandon Montour showed up late in the third period, yet again. He scored Panthers' fourth goal and sealed a crucial Game 1 victory for them.

At the goaltending end, Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves for the Panthers and Ilya Samsonov had 24 stops for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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Toronto Maple Leafs projected lineup

• Jarnkrok - Matthews - Marner
• Kerfoot - Tavares - Nylander
• Knies - O’Reilly - Acciari
• Aston-Reese - Kampf - Lafferty

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• Brodie - McCabe
• Rielly - Schenn
• Giordano - Holl

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• Samsonov
• Woll

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Florida Panthers projected lineup

• Verhaeghe-Barkov-Duclair
• Luostarinen-Bennett-Tkachuk
• Lomberg-Lundell-Reinhart
• Cousins-Staal-White

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• Forsling-Ekblad
• Staal-Montour
• Maura-Gudas

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• Bobrovsky
• Lyon

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Toronto Maple Leafs vs Florida Panthers: Prediction

Matthew Tkachuk and Sergei Bobrovsky will play important roles for the Panthers in Game 2. Although Tkachuk never scored in Game 1, he assisted in three of the Panthers' four goals. He will look to get on the scoring sheet today.

Bobrovsky denied Auston Mathews multiple times in Game 1 and if he can do the same in Game 2, it should be another victory for Florida before heading home.

The Leafs will want to make sure that they don't give Florida a 2-0 series advantage and Auston Matthews is the key to that. Despite coming very close to scoring multiple times in Game 1, Matthews could not find the back of the net. That needs to change today.

Sam Lafferty is set to replace Zach Aston-Reese in today's lineup. The Leafs hope to bolster their top-6 with this change.

Toronto Maple Leafs 3 - 5 Florida Panthers