Florida Panthers: Lines, Updates, Preview for Round 2, Game 4 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
The Florida Panthers look to slow the Toronto Maple Leafs down and tie the series up at 2-2 — and they know just what they have to do to get it done.
FORT LAUDERDALE — After gutting out an overtime victory in Game 3, the Florida Panthers find themselves in a familiar spot against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Panthers found themselves down 2-1 in the Eastern Conference final last year to the New York Rangers after dropping back-to-back games in overtime — a similar spot to their two one-goal losses to open their second-round series this year — before riding an overtime winner to win the series in six games.
Going into Sunday night’s game Game 4, they look to draw from that experience and do it again — but they don’t want to rely too much on it.
“Experience is always nice, especially when it works out in your favor,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “But each series presents itself with different challenges and different stuf throughout and it just feels different this time around.
“This time around, being down 2-0, coming back home and getting that much-needed Game 3 win. Using the home crowd to our advantage was huge for us, like it was for Toronto in Games 1 and 2. Hopefully, we keep that momentum going and get this Game 4 tonight.”
In the New York series, the Panthers looked liked themselves in the first two games — allowing just two goals in the first two games — before the floodgates opened in Game 3 in a 5-4 Rangers victory.
That has not been the case this year.
The Maple Leafs have scored 13 goals in the first three games — taking leads early in the first period in each of them — and have beaten the Panthers badly off the rush. It is something they are still looking to fix going into Game 4.
“I’m not gonna tell you,” Maurice said, when asked what adjustments his team would be making to slow down the Maple Leafs. “We’ll try not to let them score that much.”
Seth Jones did provide some insight, however.
“I think that’s illuminating rush chances,” Jones said when asked the same question. “Our F3 has gotten caught a little bit, our D gaps have not been as tight as we want them to be in the neutral zone as well. So, they are getting some of those rush chances.
“They’ve kind of changed the way they play. They play a really fast game, they get the puck out of their zone, they get to the neutral zone fast, and then they try to create bounces and hit underneath speed for rush chances. We’ve kind of given them a little bit more space than we might have liked in the first few games and they’ve also been opportunistic. You have to give them credit, they know how to puck in the back of the net.”
THE NEWS
Sergei Bobrovsky will start in net for the Panthers tonight.
The Panthers are expected to roll with the same lineup as Game 3 after making a wholesale change to their fourth line.
Tonight’s game will start at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted nationally on TNT and TruTV. It can also be streamed on MAX.
Catch the Florida Panthers pre-game show on Scripps Sports with Jessica Blaylock, Ed Jovanovski, Randy Moller and Katie Engleson 30 minutes before puck drop.
For more information on how to find Scripps Sports, visit nhl.com/panthers/info/how-to-watch.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Matt Licthenstadter will be recording subscriber-exclusive podcast episodes following the conclusion of each playoff game. For Colby’s postgame stories right after the buzzer, check out palmbeachpost.com/sports
FLORIDA PANTHERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Presented by William Raveis Real Estate
Evan Rodrigues — Aleksander Barkov — Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer — Tomas Nosek — Jonah Gadjovich
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt — Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Jaycob Megna, Mackie Samoskevich, Nico Sturm, Jesper Boqvist Uvis Balinskis
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS PROJECTED LINEUP
Matthew Knies — Auston Matthews — Mitch Marner
Max Pacioretty — John Tavares — William Nylander
Bobby McMann — Max Domi — Pontus Holmberg
Steven Lorentz — Scott Laughton — Calle Jarnkrok
Jake McCabe — Chris Tanev
Morgan Reilly — Brandon Carlo
Simon Benoit — Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Joseph Woll
Matt Murray
Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (IR), David Kampf (DTD), Anthony Stolarz
Scratched: Dennis Hildeby, Dakota Mermis, Phil Myers, Nick Robertson
Maple Leafs Lines Courtesy of DailyFaceOff.com
*Opposing team lines subject to change.