After two games in this second round playoff series, the Toronto Maple Leafs seemed to have everything under control against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The Leafs won each of the first two games at home and took a strong 2-0 series lead down to Florida.
Fast-forward three games and everything has changed. The Panthers saved their season with a 5-4 overtime victory in Game 3 and then completely took control. The Panthers shut the Leafs out 2-0 in a scrappy Game 4 before heading back to Toronto with a point to prove.
And prove a point they did. Florida absolutely waxed the Maple Leafs in front of their home fans for 60 straight minutes in a crucial Game 5. In the end, the Panthers pulled away with a 6-1 win and will now head back home to Florida with all of the momentum and a chance to close things out.
During the game, Maple Leafs fans were understandably extremely frustrated. One fan even threw an Auston Matthews jersey down onto the ice.
An Auston Matthews jersey was just thrown on the ice at Scotiabank Arena. pic.twitter.com/lLP1pfpRFl
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 15, 2025
The boos were coming down at ScotiaBank Arena all night long as the Panthers absolutely suffocated the higher-seeded Leafs to become the first road team in the series to win a game. Now, Toronto has to lick its wounds and get back up off the mat after a brutal knockout punch thrown by the defending champs.
The Maple Leafs' offense, which had been excellent for most of the first round and into the first two games of this series against Florida, has gone completely cold in the last three games. A Nicholas Robertson goal in the final minutes of Game 5 ended a scoreless streak that was approaching 150 minutes as Toronto fails to find consistent answers against Sergei Bobrovsky and the rest of this vicious Florida defense.
Still, Toronto was one of the best teams in hockey this season and it showed why in the first two games. While it feels far-fetched after this beatdown on home ice, there is still a chance that the Maple Leafs can rediscover that mojo and get back in this series.