Giant Killer Florida Ready for Second Round NHL Playoff Battle Against Toronto

The surprising Florida Panthers, who dispatched a historically great Boston Bruins team, takes on the  favored Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night in the opener of their NHL second round playoff series.

The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET at Scotiabank Arena where the Maple Leafs are -155 moneyline favorites in Game 1 with the Panthers priced at +140. The puckline shows Florida at +1.5/-180 while Toronto is -1.5/+160. The total is 6.5.

 Florida Panthers (46-35-7-1, 4-3, 8^th seed)

Florida fell behind 3-1 in the first-round series against Boston, only to win the final three games to advance. The Bruins set NHL records with 65 regular season wins and 135 points but they were done in by this Carter Verhaeghe goal at 8:35 of overtime:

Carter Verhaeghe completes one of the biggest upsets in NHL history! @FlaPanthers | #TimeToHunt | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/J3x2hjtlcK

— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) May 1, 2023

There were several players who stepped up in the Boston series. Leading the way was Matthew Tkachuk who had 11 points (five goals, six assists) against the Bruins:

Matthew Tkachuk forechecked, won the battle, then screens Swayman. He is the best American Born player on the planet right now. 5 goals 6 assists in round 1. https://t.co/xe2QTKWw01

— Paul Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0) May 1, 2023

Florida will be without a key player for the series.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice announced that forward Ryan Lomberg is week-to-week with an upper-body injury. He was injured in Game 1 against the Bruins. He played through it the next three games but sat out the final three against Boston.

Ryan Lomberg is out for the series now presumably with an injury suffered here. Not even a fine from the league… https://t.co/TnMa49Ho6E

— x – Jacob Winans (@JacobWinans8) April 28, 2023

Lomberg had 12 goals and eight assists while playing all 82 games in the regular season.

Toronto Maple Leafs (54-23-9-2, 4-3, #4 seed)

The Maple Leafs hadn’t won a playoff series in 19 years. But Toronto ended the losing streak by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had reached the Stanley Cup Finals in two of the past three seasons.

Toronto forward Auston Matthews has scored a goal in four straight games and comes into the series riding a six-game point streak (five goals, four assists). He has 22 points (13 goals, nine assists) in 22 career games against the Panthers.

"34 ON THE BOARD!"

Auston Matthews 5th of the Playoffs vs Tampa Bay Lightning courtesy of Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph. #LeafsForever @BonsieTweets @Jim_Ralph

29/4/2023 pic.twitter.com/IPieF4qPVu

— LeafsJellyHD (@LeafsJelly) April 30, 2023

Morgan Rielly enters the series riding a five-game point streak (three goals, five assists), and owns 26 points (two goals, 24 assists) in 32 games against Florida

MORGAN RIELLY GAME 3 OT WINNER vs Tampa Bay Lightning courtesy of Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph. #LeafsForever @BonsieTweets @Jim_Ralph

22/4/2023 pic.twitter.com/uybmXb1Iz4

— LeafsJellyHD (@LeafsJelly) April 23, 2023

All Atlantic Division matchup

Florida and Toronto should be quite familiar with each other. Not only do they both play in the Atlantic Division, but they met three times in the final three weeks of the regular season, with the Maple Leafs winning twice and dropping the other game in overtime.

Bottom line

Few hockey fans envisioned an Eastern Conference second-round matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers. But here we are with two familiar foes meeting for a chance to move into the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

Toronto is a -160 favorite in the series while Florida is priced at +160. With the Boston Bruins out of the picture, the Maple Leafs are now the betting favorite to win the Eastern Conference at +175. The Panthers are +450 to capture the East.