Maple Leafs explain what went wrong vs. Panthers

The lasting image of last night's game at Scotiabank Arena between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the visiting Florida Panthers will be Panthers bench boss Paul Maurice absolutely exploding on his squad for what he clearly felt was a lack of effort during a break in the 2nd period.

That seemed to wake up the Panthers, who are scrapping and clawing (no pun) towards securing a playoff spot in the tightly contested Eastern Conference. It would eventually be Brandon Montour playing the role of hero for Florida, scoring in overtime to secure a valuable extra point that was also made possible thanks to a strong 38 save performance from goaltender Alex Lyon. 

Florida now sits just one point out of the final Wild Card postseason spot, while the Leafs have already locked up their postseason reservation.

“Played a good game,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said afterward in his postgame media session. “Didn’t score enough to win and then made some mistakes at the end. Cost us the extra point.”

However, a stat that fans will immediately notice is that the Leafs were unable to score on four separate power play opportunities, which could have proven to be the difference in the game.

"Not great," said Auston Matthews on being unable to cash in with the man advantage. "Just a little bit disconnected there and maybe over-complicating things at times instead of just keeping it a little more simple and breaking them down at the start and then letting things open up."

"Rather have it happen now than in the playoffs," explained Zach Aston-Reese of giving up the lead. "Six-on-four situation, you know it’s going to happen again for sure. Definitely something we can watch the tape and learn from and hopefully down the stretch be a lot better at."

The Leafs will be back in action when they visit the rival Ottawa Senators in the Canadian capital city on Saturday evening.