<p>If you&#8217;re facing the Florida Panthers when they&#8217;re on their game, you&#8217;re often going to have a bad time unless you show up with everything firing on all cylinders. The <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a>, unfortunately, were not.</p>
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<p>The Panthers were losers of five straight games heading into Tuesday night&#8217;s contest and subject to lighthearted speculation that they were <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/the-leafs-should-use-floridas-blatant-tank-job-as-motivation-leafs-morning-take">purposely mailing it in</a> by resting a number of players against the Detroit Red Wings a couple of nights ago, in order to fall to the first wildcard spot and play the Leafs in the first round should they win the division. Either they caught wind of this and took offence to it or everybody forgot that the Panthers are recent Cup winners who go through slumps like any other team, because they brought their best against the Leafs.</p>
<p>The score was only 3-1, and the game was within one goal until a empty-netter in the final minute, but the game was fully tilted in Florida&#8217;s favour in the first and third periods. They came out flying and kept the pedal to the metal whenever they had a lead, and didn&#8217;t give the Leafs any good chances when the game was tied up. Full credit to Joseph Woll, who rebounded after a weak first goal to Bobby Or-I mean Gustav Forsling and ended up saving 35 of 37 shots despite taking the loss.</p>
<p>You would have loved to see the Leafs show up with an effort like the one on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, but to me, this loss wasn&#8217;t because of a lack of trying or not showing up on time. The Panthers are simply that good of a team and limited them of any high-quality scoring chances. They were also stomped on in the dot, winning only 31% of the draws, which is uncharacteristic for them considering they sit second in the league in that category. But when you&#8217;re giving the Panthers immediate possession off of the draw that many times, it&#8217;s not going to do you any favours against a team that can smother you with the best of them.</p>
<p>The Leafs will travel to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning for the final time this season, and despite the fact that they&#8217;re undefeated against Tampa this season, there&#8217;s no doubt that it will be one of the toughest games they&#8217;ve played all year. Tampa sits two points behind the Leafs after a win over the New York Rangers on Monday night and will be chomping at the bit for a chance to tie them for the division lead.</p>
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If you're facing the Florida Panthers when they're on their game, you're often going to have a bad time unless you show up with everything firing on all cylinders. The <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a>, unfortunately, were not.
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The Panthers were losers of five straight games heading into Tuesday night's contest and subject to lighthearted speculation that they were <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/the-leafs-should-use-floridas-blatant-tank-job-as-motivation-leafs-morning-take">purposely mailing it in</a> by resting a number of players against the Detroit Red Wings a couple of nights ago, in order to fall to the first wildcard spot and play the Leafs in the first round should they win the division. Either they caught wind of this and took offence to it or everybody forgot that the Panthers are recent Cup winners who go through slumps like any other team, because they brought their best against the Leafs.

The score was only 3-1, and the game was within one goal until a empty-netter in the final minute, but the game was fully tilted in Florida's favour in the first and third periods. They came out flying and kept the pedal to the metal whenever they had a lead, and didn't give the Leafs any good chances when the game was tied up. Full credit to Joseph Woll, who rebounded after a weak first goal to Bobby Or-I mean Gustav Forsling and ended up saving 35 of 37 shots despite taking the loss.

You would have loved to see the Leafs show up with an effort like the one on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, but to me, this loss wasn't because of a lack of trying or not showing up on time. The Panthers are simply that good of a team and limited them of any high-quality scoring chances. They were also stomped on in the dot, winning only 31% of the draws, which is uncharacteristic for them considering they sit second in the league in that category. But when you're giving the Panthers immediate possession off of the draw that many times, it's not going to do you any favours against a team that can smother you with the best of them.

The Leafs will travel to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning for the final time this season, and despite the fact that they're undefeated against Tampa this season, there's no doubt that it will be one of the toughest games they've played all year. Tampa sits two points behind the Leafs after a win over the New York Rangers on Monday night and will be chomping at the bit for a chance to tie them for the division lead.

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