Florida Follows Filthy Plan In Game 1 Loss

If you expected the Florida Panthers to play any other way, you would be sadly mistaken. The Toronto Maple Leafs were prepared for the feisty Floridians and jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but lost starting goalie Anthony Stolarz to a possible concussion and barely held on to a 5-4 win in Game 1 of the best-of-seven second-round series at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.

The Leafs, due mostly to the scoring prowess of William Nylander, jumped to a 3-1 lead, with the winger netting his fourth and fifth of the playoffs and assisting on Morgan Rielly’s tally in the opening 20 minutes. Toronto extended the lead to 4-1 on Chris Tanev’s long knuckler and appeared to have the game well in hand, but things began to fall apart when goalie Anthony Stolarz left the game unexpectedly after taking an elbow to the head from Florida’s Sam Bennett.

Stolarz vomited near the Toronto bench and was taken out of the game by the Leafs medical staff. According to Chris Johnston of the Athletic, Stolarz was taken to a hospital to be checked out after the game. The Leafs understandably attempted to shut things down and protect Joseph Woll, who came in cold in relief of Stolarz and did so effectively for the remainder of the middle frame, but could not slam the door, as Florida scored two goals in the first five minutes of the third.

Matthew Knies breakaway goal with six minutes left proved to be the game-winner, but did not stop the Panthers from pushing, as Bennett scored to make it 5-4 with Sergei Bobrovsky pulled for the extra attacker, but the Leafs held on for the victory in Game 1 and learned a very valuable lesson; always be aware and never try to sit on a lead against the reigning Stanley Cup champions. After the game, the obvious focus was the concern for the health of Stolarz.

While head coach Craig Berube said on Tuesday morning that the big goalie has not been ruled out for Game 2 on Wednesday, it is tough to imagine that Stolarz would be available less than 48 hours after being concussed.

Dmitry Kulikov RUNS OVER Pontus Holmberg 😱💥 pic.twitter.com/wax4OJbO15

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) May 6, 2025

The greater concern is the Panthers and how they are playing with reckless abandon. The Leafs were clearly prepared for how Florida would play and players like Max Pacioretty and Jake McCabe responded with hits of their own. Toronto was fairly disciplined throughout the game, but it is clear that the Panthers went to any lengths to wear down or even purposely injure Toronto players.

Even if you accept the statements of Bennett and Florida coach Paul Maurice on Tuesday that the hit to Stolarz’s head was not on purpose, what about the Dmitri Kulikov’s hit to the head of Pontus Holmberg at the end of the second? Or Matthew Tkachuk’s attempts to take out the knee of Rielly or slew-foot Mitch Marner as time expired?

Tkachuk sticking out his leg trying to catch Marner’s knee then cross-checking him in the back 🤡 pic.twitter.com/r5Cxlushe9

— Nolan B (@NolanBallinger) May 6, 2025

The simple fact is that the only thing that there is nothing that Toronto can do to slow down the Panthers dirty tendencies. The Leafs being more effective on the power play (they went 0-5 in Game 1) might slow them down a bit, but Florida will continue to pour on the pressure and lay the body (like the 51 hits in Game 1) every chance they get. The only deterrent may be the mutually assured destruction referred to in the series preview on Monday. If the Panthers attempt to take out Auston Matthews or Nylander, will someone on the Leafs try to take out Barkov or Sam Reinhart?

Needless to say, Game 2 should be highly entertaining.