Florida Panthers Self-Destruct Against the Maple Leafs

Coming off two consecutive victories, the Florida Panthers were gunning to make it three in a row. Although, the Leafs had a special surprise in store for them.

The Florida Panthers have displayed some really poor performances throughout the year, but nothing beats this defeat to the Maple Leafs last night away from home. The Cats self-destructed and fell to the hands of their divisional opponent, 6-1.

The Panthers may have started the game off well in the opening five minutes of play, but hockey, as we know, is a 60-minute game, not something you play well in for a grand five minutes.

That theme caught on pretty quickly, as the Leafs immediately ran away with the game. From outside the start, the Leafs dictated much of the momentum and created the majority of high-danger scoring chances.

Florida? They were afraid to break out of their zone. Heck, they couldn’t even get out of their zone. You saw lots of ill-advised passes through lines one to four, and also saw the regular turnovers that led to mayhem, penalties, and even goals.

Up front wasn’t much better, as even the Barkov line was struggling to get going. After putting on a hat-trick performance last Saturday, the Maple Leafs made adjustments to the way they handled and defended Barkov.

Barkov – as well as his linemates – had virtually no time to pass, shoot, or create any chances. As soon as the puck touched his stick, there was a swarm of Leaf players surrounding him.

Outside of the first line, lines two to four created absolutely nothing. All the shots they directed towards Andersen were either right at him or from a distance.

There was no creativity shown by any line. Every move and play the Panthers attempted was predictable and easy to cut off. You saw lots of this on the power play, which was as easy to shut down as taking candy from a baby.

On the other hand, the penalty kill – which has been one of the bright spots in this frustrating season – was incapable to get any stops. For the first time this year, the Panthers penalty killing unit gave up three power-play goals in a game.

Roberto Luongo – who got absolutely lit up last night – really couldn’t have been asked to do anymore. I mean, when you leave a soon-to-be 40-year-old hanging out to dry against one of the best offensive teams in the league, you’re basically asking for a blowout.

It also doesn’t help when you ice two fourth lines. For a team that supposedly fixed its offensive depth last summer, it sure doesn’t seem that way when players like Brouwer are playing on the third line over quality depth players like Malgin and when others like Haley are still in the lineup.

Questionable decisions on the back end are no different. For yet another consecutive game, Bogdan Kiselevich has been out as a healthy scratch.

He may not be the best defenseman on this team, but he’s sure shown that he’s capable of playing responsibly in his own zone. He’s also a player who should be getting the nod over Alex Petrovic – a defensive liability.

In hindsight, though, you aren’t going to fare well against an offensive juggernaut when you’re relying solely on one line to score.

The stats speak for themselves in terms of who created what, and by just looking at high-danger shot attempts (HDCF%), the Maple Leafs won fairly convincingly. Even the shots heat map aren’t pretty to look at if you’re a Panthers fan.

There’s not much more I can say, other than the Panthers played horribly and the Leafs played fluently. I hate to say “on to the next” after a performance like this, but the Cats cannot afford to dwell on this one.