The Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs have the benefit of an extra day of rest before resuming their second-round series on Wednesday in Game 5 at Scotiabank Arena. The home teams have held serve through four games, with the Leafs pulling out a pair of one-goal victories in Games 1 and 2, and the Panthers responding with overtime and shutout wins in Games 3 and 4.
While momentum may be more psychological than anything, the 2-0 loss in Game 4 has to be considered a significant concern for Leafs head coach Craig Berube, since the game marked a turn from a more wide-open offensive affair that Toronto thrives in, to a more playoff-style, physical grind-fest that Florida is more well-suited to.
The Leafs were looking for a bit of revenge at the end of Sunday’s contest, after Dmitri Kulikov’s elbow of Mitch Marner and other assorted Florida fouls went uncalled. Max Domi’s hit on Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov cost him $5,000 and turned up the heat in the series, but Leafs coach Craig Berube continued to be a calming presence that has served his club well in the playoffs thus far.
“What are (Florida) going to do, go after him? Max has been around,” Berube said. “Emotions get high and things happen, that’s part of the game. We all know that. He’s going to be fine, just go out and play (your) game. You can’t worry about if there’s going to be a reaction. You just have to go out and play.”
Toronto held an optional skate at Ford Performance Centre in Etobicoke on Tuesday, and a welcome sight was goalie Anthony Stolarz on the ice for the first time since leaving Game 1 of the series nine days ago. According to Dave McCarthy of NHL.com, the Leafs goalie was on the ice with goaltending coach Curtis Sanford for 25 minutes and went through a series of drills and took some shots, but the head coach did not commit to when he could be back.
“He’s progressing,” Berube said. “He was on the ice a little bit, so he’s doing much better.”
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was the only player absent from practice, which Berube said was due to illness, but when asked about possible lineup changes, the Leafs head coach said he was open to the possibility.
“I’m always thinking about (lineup changes)” “There’s possible moves, you’ve got to look at what are you taking out, what are you putting in, what’s the benefit of taking one or two guys out, putting two new guys in, what are they providing, what are we losing. At the same time, sometimes change is good.”
Possible options would be Nick Robertson (who has not played since Game 2 of the Ottawa series), David Kampf (who has not played since April 2nd), and Ryan Reaves (who has not played since being waived and sent to the AHL in March).
