The Maple Leafs hosting the Panthers was certainly not the marquee matchup of the night. Other than die hard Toronto fans, and whoever pays attention to Florida, most of the sporting world was focused on the NBA headline grabber, with the Celtics taking on the Miami fantasy league team. It was great that the Celtics won the game over the Heat’s fantasy free agent team.
For those who were focused on this hockey game, there were some interesting dynamics attached to it. Former Leafs defenseman Bryan McCabe was off to a good start with 5 assists in 6 games, before this one. He loves playing against his former team, and scoring against them. The expectations for the Panthers this season are not very good. No one expects them to be anywhere near a playoff spot. With that said, Florida has surprised so far, as they were 3-3-0 prior to the game.
General manager Dale Tallon is doing the right thing in stockpiling draft picks, (13 last year ) and building the team properly from the ground up. He did a tremendous job in Chicago, and along with former assistant Rick Dudley, now the general manger in Atlanta, deserve the lions share of the credit for the Hawks Stanley Cup championship. Following the same blueprint with Florida, will no doubt get the Panthers turned around sooner than later.
For the start of this game, there were an unusually large number of empty seats, throughout the platinum, gold, and red sections. Most of them did fill up by the second period.
The Panthers started this game well, and initially, they were taking the game to the Leafs. There was some booing in the first few minutes, however with the Panthers in town, the vast majority of the boos are usually set aside for for Bryan McCabe, every time he touches the puck.
In the first 12 minutes, the Panthers were getting to loose pucks faster than the Maple Leafs were.
Toronto scored on a power play, with Dennis Wideman off for holding at 18:36. Tyler Bozak got the goal, by slamming in a loose rebound at the front of the net, at 19:19, to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead after the first period.
The start of the second period was delayed by the failure of the TV lights to turn on.
It was announced that Colby Armstrong left the game with an upper body injury.
The Panthers evened the score with a power play goal by Dennis Wideman at 14:27,with Tyler Bozak off for tripping at 13:49. The goal was a nice screen shot from the point. Bryan McCabe got an assist,which drew the usual large number of boos at the ACC.
Colton Orr scored at 11:01 of the third period, to give the Leafs a 2-1 lead, on a play close to the front of the Toronto net, and it certainly looked like there was goalkeeper interference on the goal, as Florida goalie Scott Clemmensen, was knocked over in the crease by Orr, before the puck entered the net.
To his credit, Toronto coach Ron Wilson admitted after the game, that Orr should have been penalized on the play, which would have also negated the goal. He told the Associated Press: “ Colton took the goalie out and it should have been a penalty. Let’s be honest. But they didn’t see it so you take what you can get.”
The Panthers were pressing the Leafs with a lot of puck possession in the final 3 minutes of the period, and got caught up ice in Toronto’s end, as Phil Kessel picked off a puck at the blue line, and scored on a breakaway, to seal the 3-1 win for Toronto at 17:36.
The score does not indicate it, but the Panthers gave the Leafs all they could handle.That’s not too bad for a team that is forecast by many, to finish near the bottom of the league. They certainly deserved a much better result.