SUNRISE, FLA. — The thing about winning is you’re happy to rehash the past. Maybe even repeat it.
The thing about losing is you’d rather turn the page, burn the history books, and direct all conversation to the present, to clean slates and unwritten narratives.
So it was that in the leadup to the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ first return trip to Sunrise since their five-game ouster by the Florida Panthers in the 2023 playoffs, Mitch Marner said he’d never watched any video of the series that ended his spring too soon.
Coach Sheldon Keefe and captain John Tavares, too, were less than eager to detail a losing battle, the latter acknowledging only that Round 2’s swift defeat by an 8-seed had left “a sour taste in your mouth.”
On the happier side of May’s confrontation, the club opening its 30th season at home under a crip, new EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS 2022-23 banner has welcomed a little reminiscing.
“Rivalries are built in the playoffs; they’re not divisional or conference. There’s no way to play a series against Toronto and not have it be an event, right? There’s so much coverage and so much scrutiny put on everything,” said Paul Maurice, before his team went out and beat the Leafs 3-1 in familiar fashion.
The Panthers coach also fielded a question on the (in)famous photograph of a victorious Radko Gudas looming loud over Leafs goalie Joseph Woll, moments after the series-clinching goal had found its way across the line.
“We thought it was kinda funny. He’s just such an emotional guy. It was his barbaric yelp. People in Toronto didn’t appreciate it the same way we did,” said Maurice, acknowledging an image embedded in the minds of two fan bases.
“One has dart marks in it.”
Well, if the Maple Leafs were targeting revenge in stop one of this road trip, they missed the mark. This despite the Panthers playing without core pieces Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour, and Sam Bennett — in attendance to bang the ceremonial “Let’s! Go! Pan-thers!” drum only.
Still, the dump-and-chase, shoot-and-screen Panthers clawed another victory from their more star-studded rival Thursday on the strength of a determined forecheck and two long-range shots (from Kevin Stenlund and Oliver Ekman-Larsson) that weaseled through traffic in the final three minutes of the first period. And a goaltender who was one save better than Ilya Samsonov. (Sam Reinhart deposited an empty-netter with one tick left on the clock.)
“I did not see first goal. And second, too,” Samsonov said, before lightening the post-loss mood. “Maybe I need to buy some glasses.”
A less jovial Keefe: “Two goals come from distance. I’d like to see him find a way to get one of those for us, especially when the other guy on the other end is not giving you much. But I thought it was a good game and progress for Sammy in terms of finding his groove.”
The Maple Leafs, a self-believed Cup contender, have yet to find their groove as a group. They have surrendered the first goal in all four of their games this season, and when they finally tighten up defensively, as they did Wednesday, the goals dry up faster than sober October.
Mitch Marner scored his first of the season, a power-play marker orchestrated by the productive William Nylander and John Tavares. But Toronto failed to find the net at even-strength, and the team is still waiting for pricy off-season additions Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi to make meaningful impact.
Both began the season in the top six. Both finished Game 4 in the bottom six.
The bloom has also come off Fraser Minten’s rose, as the 19-year-old was demoted from the third line to the fourth mid-game, got eaten up in the faceoff dot and skated just 8:47. A promising prospect, no doubt, but the clock is ticking on Minten’s surprise NHL stint.
The early word on the Leafs’ forward depth: Yikes.
Bertuzzi, who is still searching for his first even-strength point, was removed from Auston Matthews’ top line in favour of Calle Järnkrok because he’s playing at less than 100 per cent health, and Keefe noticed him labouring between shifts.
Bertuzzi’s status for Saturday is questionable. Perhaps he would’ve sat out this one had the Leafs had enough cap space to hit the road with a spare forward. (That Pontus Holmberg missed Marlies practice Thursday has us wondering if he’ll be recalled up at some point on this trip.)
“We’ve had our looks with Bert. It just hasn’t worked right now,” Marner said. “There’s no panic mode on that at all.”
While Domi’s nameplate looks right at home on a Leafs sweater, he too is struggling to find his niche in the lineup, to adjust to Toronto’s systems, to earn the coaches’ trust.
What’s the remedy?
“Just confidence,” Keefe said. “He’s really trying to work hard and do well defensively. He’s trying to manage the puck. He’s got a lot going on in his head.
“But I think over time he’ll just settle in. You’ll see more of his instincts come to the forefront. He’s played the league a long time, and we expect that he’ll settle in and get more comfortable.”
The Maple Leafs have time on their side; 78 games offer plenty of runway to work out the kinks, and get the new faces acquainted.
But on a warm night in Florida, what was once history felt current again.
A slow start. A dialed-in opposing goalie. And nowhere to turn once the offensive superstars get contained.
Heck, even the local fans were willing to get nostalgic, chanting “We want Flo-ri-da!” with delicious sarcasm — a callback to the Leafs’ fans requesting the Cats, to their detriment, amid the joy of Toronto’s first-round win in Tampa Bay.
Ah, Tampa Bay. Where the memories are kinder, and where Toronto’s longest road trip of the season heads next, as a date with another bitter playoff foe is circled for Saturday.
“When you look at the schedule, it’s always great to have a road trip earlier in the season,” Morgan Rielly said.
“Unless you don’t play well, and then it becomes a long trip.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Matthews singlehandedly killed Matthew Knies’ second-period interference penalty by drawing this one of his own, a hook by Evan Rodrigues after Matthews steals the puck in the O-zone and drives to the net for a PK chance:
We’re wholly onboard with the Matthews as penalty killer experiment. The man is built for the power kill.
• With his 107th win in a Panthers uniform, Leafs killer Sergei Bobrovsky surpassed John Vanbiesbrouck to become the second-winningest goalie in franchise history.
• From the time BB&T’s commitment expired in 2021 until Sept. 19 of this year, no company was paying for naming rights of the Panthers’ home rink. They called the barn FLA Live Arena in the interim. Now another bank has stepped to the plate and given the building its sixth name: Amerant Bank Arena.
A run to the Stanley Cup Final can generate financial gains and grassroots ones.
“There are more cars in the parking lot of the practice rink,” Maurice has noticed in South Florida this fall. “When an NHL team comes to town and if they have success, more kids start playing, and the youth program takes off. And when that happens, you will eventually produce an NHL player.
“Hockey becomes a cool thing. I grew up with a tennis court across the street. Never went to it. But after Wimbledon, we’d go over and play tennis for about three straight weeks.”
• The lads from Vancouver and Arizona teamed up Tuesday night to (unofficially) take first place at the Maple Leafs’ Halloween party.
Rielly, Minten, Matthews, and Knies dressed up as speed skaters. Ryan Reaves — the only Leaf to posted images of his costume (Snoop Dogg) on social media — spilled the beans.
“I’ll snitch. I don’t care,” the veteran smiled.
“The tights, everything. Looked pretty good. I heard they Rollerbladed there too, so they were probably sweating on the way…. It was a good look.”
For those scoring at home, Tavares dressed as a hippie. Marner went as Inspector Clouseau, with new bride Stephanie LaChance disguised as the Pink Panther.
“It was great, I got to wear a tie and dress shirt,” Marner deadpanned. “Just what I want to do on an off day.”
• The Reaves–versus–Corey Perry storyline gets yet another chapter, three days after their meeting. Here’s Chicago coach Luke Richardson revealing the contents of the between-benches chirpfest during the Blackhawks’ win on Monday…