Matthew Tkachuk exposes what Florida has that Toronto lacks…

For Matthew Tkachuk, it is quite simple. With a 3-0 series lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs ahead of Wednesday night’s Game 4, the Florida Panthers are in a great position to close the books and move on to the Eastern conference finals. And for Tkachuk, there is no pressure on whether Florida can become the fifth team to have fallen victim to the reverse sweep and lost in a Game 7.

“There’s no pressure on us,” Tkachuk said Tuesday. “Why play if you can’t enjoy it?”

The Panthers are the underdogs this postseason and have already proven that they don’t need to be messed around with. They managed to beat the President Trophy winners Boston Bruins in seven games and since they’ve been unstoppable.

How?

Tkachuk puts it simply enough:

“We have a very serious team where guys want to do well, but in a tie game late in the third, we’re enjoying it on the bench — laughing, smiling, just looking around at the moment that we’re in,” Tkachuk told reporters. “We’re really, really enjoying it and having so much fun.”

We can’t say the same about the Maple Leafs. There has been visible frustration at the bench and on the ice, and it will only get more serious tonight with a do or die Game 4.

If Toronto keeps lacking the passionate attitude it needs to connect as a team and loses later tonight, Florida will advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 1996.

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