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Most fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs do not want to think this way (likely out of superstition), but the outcome of the first round appears to have been a best-case scenario for the club’s aspirations of advancing in the Eastern Conference.
The Florida Panthers upset of the Boston Bruins provided the Leafs with home-ice advantage in the second-round series opening Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena, it provided Toronto with what most would say is a less difficult opponent than the record-breaking President’s Trophy-winning Bruins.
That being said, what the Panthers did in coming back from a 3-1 deficit is something that Toronto cannot underestimate. Florida beat Boston at their own game, using physicality (primarily Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Radko Gudas) and responding offensively with three effective forward lines. Tkachuk, defenseman Brandon Montour, and former Leaf prospect Carter Verhaeghe led Florida in scoring, and they were able to best Boston without team captain Aleksander Barkov or Aaron Ekblad at top form.
The New York Rangers losing in seven games to New Jersey eliminates the club that most predicted to make it out of the Metropolitan after the deadline additions of Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, leaving the young and extremely speedy Devils to face a Carolina Hurricanes squad impaired by the loss of Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen.
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The Leafs held an optional skate at Scotiabank Arena prior to Game 1 on Tuesday, with Matt Murray on the ice along with expected starter Ilya Samsonov and rookie Joseph Woll. Erik Kallgren was sent back to the AHL Toronto Marlies, who are currently 1-1 in their second-round series with Utica, which means that Murray is at least ready to be the emergency backup, and could soon be ready to be the backup on the bench.
Based on the line combinations at practice on Monday, the only change expected for Toronto is Zach Aston-Reese being inserted, as Sheldon Keefe goes back to the conventional 12-6 configuration. Erik Gustafsson (who was on the ice for Tampa’s only goal in Game 6) skated with Justin Holl as the extra pairing, with Timothy Liljegren the likely partner for Mark Giordano on the bottom pairing.
Florida may have been playing some mind and media games at their morning skate, as Alex Lyon (who started Games 1 through 3 vs. Boston) left the ice first instead of Sergei Bobrovsky.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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