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Morning Coffee: Panthers re-emerge as East favourite after Game 5 win in Toronto
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Leafs Nation waited 375 days for last night’s game.
By the time that the second intermission rolled around, fans had already flipped over to Crave to find something else to watch.
That reminds me, I still need to get to The Last of Us.
It was supposed to be a new era of hockey in Toronto.
My buddies treated it like it was the mood landing.
It was the game that would change the narrative forever.
And it did.
Just, not in the way that they expected.
In fact, I don’t think anybody expected what we got.
I promise you, I didn’t.
The Florida Panthers dominated the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 6-1 win to take a 3-2 series lead.
After getting on the board first in the opening frame, the Panthers exploded for three goals in a span of eight minutes in the middle frame for a commanding 4-0 lead.
A franchise-record 14 different players registered at least one point for Florida, which matched another franchise record with goals from three different defencemen.
By the time the night was over, Maple Leafs fans that weren’t already watching The Last of Us were busy doom-scrolling social media looking for answers.
The same Toronto team that was one goal away from taking a 3-0 series lead in Game 3 suddenly trailed 3-2 in the series after getting outscored a combined 8-1 in consecutive losses.
Where does the Blue and White go from here?
The Maple Leafs are suddenly on the ropes as they head to Florida for Game 6 on Friday night, and the Panthers are a heavy favourite to make sure it’s their final game of the season.
This is the Morning Coffee for Thursday May 15th, 2025.
Panthers Re-Emerge As East Favourite After Game 5 Win In Toronto
The Maple Leafs remained a popular bet to advance at FanDuel even after back-to-back losses in Florida.
Per the FanDuel traders, in the 24 hours after Game 4, 65 per cent of the bets were on Toronto to win the series.
Anybody who bet the Maple Leafs was in store for a big surprise last night as the Panthers cruised to a 6-1 win.
It was Toronto’s worst home playoff loss since Game 1 of the 2002 Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Auston Matthews matched the longest drought of his playoff career with zero goals in five games.
The top six forwards failed to register a single point for the second game in a row.
So, where do the Maple Leafs go from here?
The Panthers opened -220 to win Game 6.
Florida has since been bet to -240 at FanDuel.
If the current numbers hold, +195 would be the longest closing odds for Toronto to win a postseason game since they faced the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs in Matthews’ rookie year.
The Maple Leafs are up to +500 to win the series – longer odds than the Panthers to win the Stanley Cup at +300.
Meanwhile, Florida has re-emerged as the favourite to represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final for a third year in a row at +105.
Toronto is +1200 to reach the Stanley Cup Final.
Leafs Nation has waited a long time for this team to get another chance to prove it can change the narrative.
The good news is Toronto still gets two more chances.
Until then, Leafs fans will just have to wait a little longer.
We’re on to Game 6 in Florida.
Oilers Punch Ticket To Western Conference Finals
The Edmonton Oilers might be the most complete team in the National Hockey League.
That will certainly be true if Stuart Skinner continues to perform at the level he played at in back-to-back wins to eliminate the Vegas Golden Knights.
Coming off a 23-save shutout in Game 4, Skinner stopped all 24 shots he faced as the Oilers eliminated Vegas with a 1-0 win in overtime in Game 5 last night.
Skinner became just the third goaltender in NHL history to record consecutive shutouts in a single postseason.
He improved to 5-1 wih a 1.97 goals against average and a .926 save percentage in six-career closeout games.
The Oilers have re-emerged as the favourite to win the Western Conference at -115 and the favourite to win the Stanley Cup at +250 at FanDuel.
Hopefully for fans of the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton will have to wait a little longer to find out their opponent for this year’s Western Conference Finals.
A FanDuel Best Bet For Thursday Night
The results from Wednesday’s Morning Coffee bets paint a perfect picture of how the night unfolded.
The Panthers and Oilers bets went a combined 5-0.
The Maple Leafs player props went a combined 0-4.
Turning the page this morning, I’ll run it back with a builder shots on goal Same Game Parlay for tonight’s Game 5 between the Jets and Dallas Stars.
I’ll go with Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers to record 2+ shots on goal and pair it with Gabriel Villardi and Nino Niederreiter to record 1+ shot on goal at +100 odds.
This SGP would be a perfect 4-0 in the series and with Winnipeg facing elimination, I hope that trend continues tonight.
Have a great day, everyone!