Are the Leafs ready for Round 1 against the Bruins?
Are the Leafs ready for Round 1 against the Bruins?
For Sheldon Keefe and the Leafs, there's a lot to talk about before one of the most intriguing first-round playoff series in recent memory.
Heading into Tuesday’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers, it was hard not to look ahead and see it as a playoff preview. For weeks, the standings didn’t move much, and it felt like the Leafs and Panthers were locked into a first-round matchup.
“Both teams know that they’re playing for something bigger that’s coming,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said before the game.
But in a dramatic late-season turn, the Leafs saw their long-presumed first-round opponent doing everything the Leafs tried to do well Tuesday night to win their final game of the season. Combined with capitulation from the Boston Bruins in games 81 and 82, the Panthers overtook the Bruins for the top spot in the Atlantic Division with a 5-2 win in their final game of the season.
So now the Leafs know they’re heading to Boston to begin Round 1 as the third seed.
. . .
So, are the Leafs ready for Round 1?