Can Leafs show killer instinct in Games 3 and 4 vs. Panthers?

The Florida Panthers find themselves down 2-0 in their series against the Toronto Maple Leafs as they return home, and while they aren’t exactly in trouble just yet, they are very close to it.

The Leafs found themselves in the same position in their first round series against the Ottawa Senators, and while they went up 3-0 in the series, they did struggle to close it out. They have the opportunity to do the same with Florida over these next two games, and you get the feeling that they won’t be as forgiving.

Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk talked about the Leafs-Panthers’ series, and how Toronto has the opportunity to push Florida to the brink on Daily Faceoff Live.

Frank Seravalli: What I’m most interested in as the series shifts to Florida is, can the Toronto Maple Leafs show, for once and for all, a killer instinct that Brendan Shanahan started talking about three years ago? Put a skate to the throat of the Cats. You’ve got an opportunity here. Get greedy. At least square off one of these games in Florida and come back with a 3-1 series lead.

Because I think already Florida is on their heels, whether they want to admit it or not, and this is a position that Florida hasn’t been in for a while. They’ve won five consecutive playoff series. They’ve won 8 of their last 9 playoff series’. It’s a pretty significant moment to have Florida down 2-0 heading home because their margin for error has evaporated.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah, absolutely. You said it, 10 playoff series’ over the last couple of years. Frankly, they played more playoff hockey than anyone. I don’t look at those two games at all as a team that’s exhausted or has played too much hockey, that was just poor performances at a bad time.

So for the Leafs, I think you need to prove a little bit here that you learned your lesson from round one as well. Maybe they got a little bit too high on themselves. Take this a game at a time, and again, show that maturity that we were praising them through three games against Ottawa.

Frank Seravalli: Yeah, I don’t think Florida looked like they were tired at all when they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in five.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah, exactly. I think going to that is a little bit of a lazy narrative, if you will. You have to give this Leafs team credit, and this Florida team absolutely has room to play a whole heck of a lot better than they did.

You can watch the full episode here…