Leafs anticipate 'playoff-like game' against Panthers
Published
The Maple Leafs (optional) and Florida Panthers skated at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.
---
The race for top spot in the Atlantic Division takes centre stage on Thursday as the Leafs host the Florida Panthers.
"We’re preparing for a playoff-like game," said Leafs forward Steven Lorentz. "You can say that about a lot of games, but this one, it’s no secret that both teams are battling for first place."
"It’s certainly what we’re playing for," said Panthers winger Sam Reinhart. "It’s certainly what you want. We’ve been on both sides of it. The longer you go, the less travel and the more time at home is an advantage."
Florida hoisted the Stanley Cup last season after finishing first in the Atlantic Division. They lost in the Cup final as a wildcard team the previous year.
The Panthers lead the Leafs by two points, but Toronto has played one fewer game.
"We know it’s going to be a hard-fought game," said Lorentz, who played for the Panthers last season. "It’s not going to be a lot of pretty passing plays. It’s going to be fighting for every inch out there and that’s the game we want to play. So, we’re going to come out hard. We’re kind of excited for the opportunity to get at these guys."
It will be the first game between the teams since the Panthers won 5-1 on Nov. 27 in Sunrise, Fla.
Thursday will be the first of three meetings between the teams down the stretch.
"They’ve been at the top of the league for a significant period of time now," noted Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe. "Credit to them because it’s not an easy game to play the way they do night in and night out. That’s what most teams are chasing. We’ve shown throughout the course of the year that we can play that stifling game and that's what we’re trying to get to this last month of the year."
The Panthers had their six-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday in Boston.
"We’re not going to play harder tonight because it could be first place," said Panthers head coach Paul Maurice. "We should be playing harder every night. That’s kind of the way we’re rolling here."
Max Domi channelled a similar energy when asked about the significance of finishing in first.
"That s--t doesn’t matter to us," the Leafs winger insisted. "We’re just trying to beat every team we play against and every game is just as important."
---
The Leafs have looked leaky during this recent road-heavy stretch of schedule. Toronto has allowed 3.67 goals per game since the 4 Nations Face-Off, which is tied for 28th in the NHL.
"Definitely something we’ve been trying to focus on," McCabe said. "We’ve shown this year that we can be elite defensively. We’ve gotten off track a little bit, but I got no doubt in our group that we can get back to where we were earlier in the year."
The Leafs allowed 2.84 goals per game prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off, which ranked 12th overall.
The system brought in by new coach Craig Berube is reliant on a strong forecheck game, and the Leafs have been struggling to establish that consistently while going 3-2-1 in their last six outings.
"The last handful of games I think we’ve gotten away from our identity a little bit in terms of putting pucks in deep and forechecking and going to work," Berube acknowledged. "We’re trying to get that dialed back in here and play that North-South game."
The absence of defenceman Chris Tanev has played a role in Toronto's dip in play. Tanev skated on Thursday morning and is a game-time decision, per Berube.
Tanev has missed the last six games with an upper-body injury.
---
Anthony Stolarz, who was the backup goalie during Florida's Cup run, allowed four goals on 23 shots during Toronto's loss in Florida in November. He received his Stanley Cup ring before that game and was the subject of a video tribute during a commercial break in the first period.
"Just thought I could have made one of those saves and kept the game a little bit tighter," he said after the emotional outing. "You look down at the other end, and [Sergei Bobrovsky] was kind of making some saves to keep them with a two-goal lead. So, I think that was the difference."
Stolarz gets a shot at revenge on Thursday night as he starts for the Leafs.
"It seems like a lifetime ago," Reinhart said of the first game against Stolarz this season. "We’re expecting his best."
Reinhart, who scored on Stolarz in November, spent part of Wednesday catching up with his old teammate.
"I was rolling around the floor with his cat that my wife and I fostered for a couple weeks," Reinhart said. "Got nothing but great things to say about that guy. Looking forward to another battle against him tonight. It’s great to see him feeling good and healthy and at his best again."
---
Does it feel like the Panthers have a target on their back this season?
"When we watch the games that teams will play maybe the two or three prior to us they don’t look like the game they play against us," Maurice noted. "It will be high-end energy."
Opponents are bringing a different energy into games against the Panthers, but Florida is also being fuelled in a different way.
"I found that this year, when you lost a game it was worse," Maurice said. "The idea of losing just drives you nuts, so just different energy sources."
Berube, who led the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup in 2019, was asked if he recalled feeling a target on his team's back the following season.
"You always want to beat the team that won last year," he said. "I find the Toronto Maple Leafs have a target on their back every night seems like. We don’t get an easy game it seems like, especially at home here. These teams all come into Toronto and a lot of the players are from here and family and all that, so they get gunned up and geared up to play us. I find it’s a tough night every night with the Leafs."
---
Trade deadline additions Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo will make their Toronto home debuts on Thursday.
Laughton continues to skate between Bobby McMann and Domi on the third line.
"Scotty’s a guy that, as a kid, I always looked up to him, because he was a year older than me," said Domi. "He was the captain of the Marlies [minor hockey team] and I’d get called up once in a while. He always treated me with so much respect and took care of me when I was a young kid and we’ve been friends ever since ... He’s one of the best teammates you’re going to find."
Laughton is minus-two with one shot and one minor penalty in two games with the Leafs. Chemistry will take some time to develop and Berube was asked how much runway he'll give Toronto's new-look third unit.
"I don’t really have a ‘leash’ on it," he said. "If I don’t like what I’m seeing I’ll change it. I thought they were better last game than they were in the first game so I’m looking for more improvement tonight and I’ll play it by ear."
---
Laughton is from Oakville, Ont., and already has some family in town. His wife and son will make the trip north in a few weeks.
"Scott being from Toronto helps," observed McCabe. "Obviously having family and friends close by, but with Brandon it’s almost a carbon copy of what I went through."
McCabe, who is from Wisconsin, was acquired by the Leafs just ahead of the trade deadline two years ago.
Carlo, who is from Colorado, had spent his entire career with the Boston Bruins before Friday's deal.
"Just try and be there and support him," said McCabe. "It is a whirlwind, and he’s obviously felt that, especially being in one place so long and throughout your career, and then everything changes, frankly. Yeah, it’s a lot, man. It’s not an easy thing to go through."
Carlo's wife and two kids are remaining south of the border for now.
"It’s not easy," McCabe said. "You gotta get passports. There’s a lot s--t that goes into it."
---
Projected Leafs lineup for Thursday game, if Tanev plays:
Knies - Matthews - Marner
Jarnkrok - Tavares - Nylander
McMann - Laughton - Domi
Lorentz - Kampf - Holmberg
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Carlo
Benoit - Ekman-Larsson
Stolarz starts
Woll
Projected Leafs lineup for Thursday's game, if Tanev doesn't play:
Knies - Matthews - Marner
Jarnkrok - Tavares - Nylander
McMann - Laughton - Domi
Lorentz - Kampf - Holmberg
McCabe - Ekman-Larsson
Rielly - Carlo
Benoit - Myers
Stolarz starts
Woll