Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers had a week off to evaluate their next opponent in this year’s playoffs after making quick work of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. The Atlantic Division matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins went the distance after Toronto dug out of a 3-1 hole and forced a Game 7.
Despite having all the momentum and getting superstar Auston Matthews back for the final game, the Leafs let another third-period lead slip away against the Bruins and David Pastrnak sent them packing in overtime. Toronto’s never-say-die attitude had many speculating they might finally exorcise their demons.
Tkachuk, who has had plenty of time on his couch to think about how he would rile up Leafs fans, says he knew history would repeat itself and the Bruins would be making their way to Sunrise, Florida.
“I think, without this coming out too badly, I think we all knew it was probably going to be Boston the way that series was going,” Tkachuk said Sunday. “I’m sure a lot of people expected that at the beginning of the series.”
After Boston took a 3-1 series lead, many had already moved on to talking about Toronto’s offseason with no regard to a potential comeback. So Tkachuk was not alone.
Boston has won every playoff series against the Leafs over the last 65 years and Toronto has been unable to escape the first round in seven of their last eight seasons. Toronto, one of the league’s Original Six franchises, has also not won a Stanley Cup since 1967.
“With the playoffs, you never know, but I think throughout the whole series we were probably expecting [Boston] were going to come out with that one way or another,” Tkachuk said.
Tkachuk has a history of kicking Toronto when they’re down. After wiping out the Leafs in just five games in last year’s second round, Tkachuk made sure to acknowlege Leafs fans who had chanted “We want Florida” after winning their first playoff series since 2004.
“I don’t think they want Florida that much anymore,” Tkachuk said then. “I wasn’t hearing many of those [chants] after that game and that may be the best part.”
The Panthers had beaten the Bruins in a historic seven-game upset series before downing the Leafs last year. Boston was the Presidents’ Trophy winner as the NHL’s best regular season team with a record-setting 135 points before being ousted.
Tkachuk credits that series victory with creating the playoff beast that is now his Florida team.
“I just think that it showed that we could beat anybody and it gave us a lot of confidence no matter who we played or what building we were in,” Tkachuk said. “It brought us super close together. The effects of that series are still being shown now. It’s a great challenge for both teams. We’ve had a week off, they’ve been playing. It’s up to us to get up to speed fast tomorrow and try to get in the game early.”
Perhaps using some of that playoff disappointment as fuel, the Bruins swept the regular season series against the Panthers this year. All of the games were very close though with two going to overtime and the goal differential only being 13-8 in favor of Boston.
The best-of-seven second-round series between the two Atlantic Divison foes will kick off Monday night at Florida’s Amerant Bank Arena. Puck drop for Game One is scheduled for 8 pm.
