The Florida Panthers face the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game Five of the Second Round. The Panthers have controlled the series, winning the first three games, but they stumbled on their home ice and lost Game Four. The Maple Leafs looked poised to be swept in the series but stepped up in Game Four to win 2-1 to force Game Five. The Panthers look to advance to the Eastern Conference Final while the Maple Leafs look to force a Game Six and Game Five should be a great one.
The Panthers have controlled this series despite their offense struggling and scoring only 11 goals in the series. Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Sam Reinhart have scored three goals and eight assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has struggled. The hope is that defensemen Brandon Montour and Gustav Forsling can step up as they added 29 goals and 85 assists from the point but only have two goals in this series.
The offense has struggled but the defense has carried the Panthers, allowing only eight goals including only two goals in every game this series. Brandon Montour and Marc Staal have led the top pairing while Gustav Forsling, Aaron Ekblad, and Radko Gudas have also stepped up, creating turnovers in all three zones and limiting shots on the net. In addition, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has been great, saving 114 of the 122 shots he's faced.