Toronto Maple Leafs @ Florida Panthers
07:00 PM at Amerant Bank Arena
Watch on: ESPN, TSN4

The Leafs last game was at home on April 5 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, which Toronto won by a score of 5-0 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 47-25-4 for a 0.645 Points %.

The Florida Panthers last played away on April 6 against the Detroit Red Wings. The Panthers lost by a score of 2-1 in regulation, and their current league record is 44-29-4 for a 0.597 Points %.

Them

Here's the story, morning glory. The Panthers have masses of cap space and LTIR room. Because of the nature of his suspension for the use of performance enhancing drugs, Aaron Ekblad's $7,500,000 cap hit does not count. Because he's on LTIR, Matthew Tkachuk's $10,000,000 cap hit become LTIR pool space. Because it's after the deadline, there is no 23-man roster limit.

The Panthers have been recalling players from the AHL to the maximum number of recalls allowed, and at time of writing they had 26 players on the active roster. They've used these recalls to rest some players, but they also have some serious injuries. Alex Barkov, Nico Sturm and Dmitry Kulikov, are all out hurt.

Florida has the luxury to recall players to fill those spots and to rest some regulars against the Red Wings because three of their best players are unavailable to play. It's not actually luxurious to have Ekblad suspended for 20 games.

This is not "trying to lose". They aren't gaming the matchup. It's not actually all about the Leafs. What they've got is a run of performances poor enough to lose several games. They're now unlikely to get home-ice advantage in the first round. Their most likely finishing spot is third. They aren't trying to come fourth. If they were, it would be Sergei Bobrovsky sitting in the press box.

You should all know this. The way you tank with a good to mediocre roster is to keep downgrading the goalie until you lose more than the Oilers. When the Panthers start playing Kaapo Kahkonen, then you can raise an eyebrow.

Not all of those guys are ready to return yet.

Lines

Jameson Olive via Daily Faceoff

Carter Verhaeghe - Aleksander Barkov - Sam Reinhart
Eetu Luostarinen - Anton Lundell - Brad Marchand
Jesse Puljujarvi - Evan Rodrigues - Mackie Samoskevich
A.J. Greer - Tomas Nosek - Jonah Gadjovich

Niko Mikkola - Seth Jones
Gustav Forsling - Nate Schmidt
Jaycob Megna - Uvis Balinskis

Sergei Bobrovsky - confirmed starter
Vitek Vanecek

Us

The Leafs have zero cap space and no ability to recall anyone. They have two players newly injured – Jake McCabe and David Kämpf, who won't be playing either game this mid-week.

There is no potential roster change, and today's morning skate lines are the same as last games.

The goalies are going to be split between these two games and the next two which are also back-to-back. Joe Woll goes tonight.

Lines

Last Game (2025-04-05) via Daily Faceoff

Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Bobby McMann - John Tavares - William Nylander
Scott Laughton - Max Domi - Calle Järnkrok
Steven Lorentz - Pontus Holmberg - Nicholas Robertson

Morgan Rielly - Brandon Carlo
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit - Philippe Myers

Joe Woll - starter
Anthony Stolarz

The Game

None of the games now mean much. Just keep on keeping on, Leafs. Five more after tonight.

Game Coverage