George Richards, FHN Publisher
FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs have enjoyed their home cooking in this second round playoff series.
It has been pastelitos vs. Tim Hortons.
Both are pretty good.
Toronto, of course, took a 2-0 series lead by winning the first two of these games on home ice; the Panthers tied ‘er up with two wins in the Everglades.
Now, we have a best-of-3 series.
Toronto has two of those games.
If the Panthers want to move on, they are going to need to hold serve at home — and break in Toronto.
“I think we’re a good road team,’’ Niko Mikkola said Tuesday morning before the flight north. “We need to steal one in their place. That’s the name of the game. Just do our thing, play our game and we have a chance.’’
As we noted before the start of this series, Florida has been pretty good on the road over the past three postseasons.
When you count going 3-0 in Tampa in the first round, over the past three playoffs, Florida had been 18-8 away from Sunrise.
But the Panthers are 0-2 against the Leafs in Toronto in this series.
Right now, that’s all that matters.
FLORIDA PANTHERS / FHN
- Doug Cifu, alternate governor and minority stakeholder in the Panthers, apologized after being suspended by the NHL on Monday for what the league deemed inappropriate comments on Twitter following Florida’s Game 4 win.
- Matthew Tkachuk “is back, and right’’ sayeth Paul Maurice. Good news, obviously, for the Panthers.
- Anthony Stolarz was back on the ice with the Leafs on Tuesday.
- Auston Matthews hasn’t scored a playoff goal against the Panthers. Ever. He is trying to break this cold streak.
- Max Domi drilled Sasha Barkov in the final seconds of Florida’s series-tying win and was hit with a fine. Maurice doesn’t think the dustup in the final seconds will carry over into Game 5.
- Don’t forget to subscribe to the FHN YouTube channel to watch video interviews with the Florida Panthers throughout the postseason. We had Maurice, Mikkola, and Anton Lundell preflight on Tuesday. More from Toronto today.
NHL LINKS / NATIONAL HOCKEY NOW
- The Stars are a win away from moving on to the Western Conference finals for a third straight year after Mikael Granlund gets a hat trick in a 3-1 win over Winnipeg. The Jets are down 3-1 in this series.
- Evander Kane has been a difference-maker for the Oilers this postseason.
- The Vegas Golden Knights have crumbled.
- What a perfect offseason looks like for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
- Rick Tocchet has been linked to the Philadelphia Flyers, again.
- And the Boston Bruins remain in the mix.
- Does Jonathan Drouin leave the Colorado Avalanche? Maybe he joins Sasha Barkov and Seth Jones in Florida for a 2013 draft reunion. OK, he probably does not.
2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: GAME 4
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS
Best-of-7 series tied 2-2
- When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto
- National TV: ESPN
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Series Schedule — Game 1: @Toronto 5, Florida 4; Game 2: @Toronto 4, Panthers 3; Game 3: @Florida 5, Toronto 4 (OT); Game 4: @Florida 2, Toronto 0; Game 5: Wednesday @Toronto, 7 (ESPN); Game 6: Friday @Florida TBA (TNT/truTV); Game 7*:Sunday May 18 @Toronto TBA (TNT/truTV).
- How They Got Here: Toronto d. Ottawa 4-2; Florida d. Tampa Bay 4-1
- This Regular Season: Panthers Won 3-1; Last Regular Season: Tied 2-2
- All-time Regular Season Series: Toronto leads 51-40-7, 7 ties
- All-time Postseason: Panthers d. Toronto 4-1 (2023 ECS)