My gut going into this one is that the way the officiating went for the second half of the last game is what we’re going to see tonight. I don’t think the Leafs should expect a powerplay. Power Play opportunities so far have been 5-3 and 3-2 in Toronto’s favour over two games and the Leafs have a 2-0 series lead. I sincerely can’t imagine a world where the NHL doesn’t give Florida a huge man advantage bonus tonight to get them back in the series – look at some of the egregious infractions solely against Holmberg last game that went uncalled.
– Punksie
Let me counter:
The Panthers led the league in penalties this year – 10:24 per game.
The Leafs were 18th in the league – 7:58 per game.
So doing very simple math here, the Panthers should be getting one and a quarter more penalties called on them a game than the Leafs.
It’s even worse in the playoffs: Panthers averaging 13:08 per game, Leafs 8:30 per game.
So we’re playing virtually the same as the regular season, and they’ve become a little dirtier (and that’s assuming the reffing is the same – which we all know is not true).