Morgan Rielly affirmed to reporters his Toronto Maple Leafs, who trail their second-round series of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Florida Panthers three games to none, will not go down without a fight in Game 4 Wednesday in Florida.
“We're here, we're fighting,” Morgan Rielly said, via NHL insider for the Toronto Star, Chris Johnston. “We're not going to go down easy.”
Toronto, which finished with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference (50-21-11), has lost its first three games of their second-round series against the Panthers, who were No. 4 seed in the East bracket (42-32-8). The Maple Leafs won three of four games against Florida in the regular season.
Toronto lost Games 2 and 3 of this series by one goal, with the score being 3-2 in each game. Rielly has the Maple Leafs' best plus/minus (+10) and is tied for their second-most points (11) this postseason.
Toronto must win four straight games to upend the Panthers and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, though.
The Maple Leafs, who had the third-best odds to win the Stanley Cup at the beginning of the playoffs by SportsBettingDime, defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs, four games to two. It was the team's first playoff series win since 2004.
Rielly had three goals in that series and four assists alone in the Maple Leafs' 7-2 Game 2 victory over the Lightning. He also scored the game-winning goal in Toronto's 4-3 win in Game 3. Rielly has yet to score a goal against the Panthers, although he has an assist in each of the first three games.
The Maple Leafs' defenseman was selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2012 draft. He missed 15 games with a knee injury earlier this season but has proven to be a critical piece for Toronto amid their current playoff run.
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