Matthews and Marner dominated against Tampa, but are being completely shut down by the Panthers
The Toronto Maple Leafs have found themselves in a very unenviable position as they are now forced to climb their way out of a 0-3 hole to defeat the Florida Panthers in the second round.
Game 3 might've been the Panthers' best showing so far in this series and they had the Leafs flustered through the first 40 minutes with only 13 shots on goal through 2 periods - just 4 in the first period. Fortunately, the Leafs were opportunistic as they had scored twice through the first 40 minutes and were tied heading into the third period. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.
The game went into overtime before Sam Reinhart deposited a wrap-around goal through the wickets of an unsuspecting Joseph Woll to give the Panthers a commanding 3-0 series lead.
Ilya Samsonov went down in the second period, Woll played great in relief, and while the biggest problem right now could be the lack of scoring from their top dogs, another key area that needs to be addressed are the scoring chances allowed at 5-on-5 when their top players are on the ice.
The Panthers had 18 scoring chances to 4 against with Mitch Marner on the ice at even strength and they had 18 scoring chances to 7 against with Auston Matthews on the ice. For comparison, the Leafs had 14 scoring chances for and only 4 against with William Nylander on the ice.
If that wasn't bad enough, the goal scorers through three games for the Leafs include: Erik Gustafsson, Sam Lafferty, Matthew Knies, Michael Bunting, Alexander Kerfoot, and Ryan O'Reilly. Comparatively, the Panthers have received goals from: Nick Cousins, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Brandon Montour, Anton Lundell, Aleksander Barkov, Gustav Forsling, Anthony Duclair, and Sam Reinhart. Matthew Tkachuk might not have a goal to his name but he does have 4 assists and 16 hits.
Matthews, Marner and Tavares each recorded two shots on goal and Nylander only had 1 tonight. While that may be bad, it only gets worse when you don't notice when #34 or #16 on the ice, let alone with the puck on their sticks. Matthews fired one off the post to start the game but that was about it for him from start to finish.
The Leafs need to do something that has only been done 4 times in NHL history - the first being the 1942 Leafs against the Detroit Red Wings in the Finals - win 4 straight to steal a series. It's a cliche that has stood the test of time but they need to take it one game at a time and go from there. However, for just that to even happen, the big boys have to show up in Game 4.
| POLL | ||
MAI 8 | 469 ANSWERS Matthews and Marner dominated against Tampa, but are being completely shut down by the Panthers Should the Leafs trade one of the Core 4 if they lose to Florida? | ||
| Yes | 408 | 87 % |
| No | 61 | 13 % |
| List of polls | ||
