The Toronto Maple Leafs faced off against the Florida Panthers for the final time this season, and if it was any indication of how a playoff series between these two teams might go, it certainly didn’t inspire a lot of hope.

The Panthers are one of the most, if not the most, exhausting teams to play against. They play an aggressive style of dump-and-chase hockey, they’re heavy on the forecheck, and they’re elite in front of the net. They know how to tighten up and smother you once they get a lead, and last night’s game perfectly demonstrated how silly the lighthearted theory that they were tanking games in order to have a more favourable playoff matchup was. This is the 2024 Cup-winning Panthers core we’re talking about. To suggest that they don’t have the confidence to beat any team in the NHL at any given moment is silly. That’s a story for a different day, though.

The Panthers got the first goal on Tuesday night, with defenceman Gustav Forsling scooping up a loose puck immediately off of the draw and firing a shot off the post and in past Toronto netminder Joseph Woll. It wasn’t the game-winning goal, but it did give the Panthers enough of a momentum boost to tighten things up and prevent the Maple Leafs from getting any meaningful chances for the rest of the period. John Tavares, who was on the draw for Toronto, spoke to reporters after the game and blamed himself for the goal.

Tavares went on to right his wrong, scoring the tying goal just over a minute into the second period, and the Leafs played a pretty competitive period against the Panthers from there. But after an ill-timed giveaway left Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen alone in front to score the go-ahead goal, the home team put the clamp down and prevented the Leafs from generating anything, as losses against Florida typically go.

The Maple Leafs are back in action on Wednesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who sit two points behind them for the Atlantic Division lead, making it one of if not the biggest game of the season to date.