Ice Hockey | Wednesday, May 10, 2023 8:20 AM

Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs Best Bet: Panthers Set to Finish

IMAGO / ZUMA Wire

US Sports Expert

Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs Best Bet: Wednesday, May 10th

The Florida Panthers have the potential to sweep the Toronto Maple Leafs in their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series, and home ice could come in handy on Wednesday night for the Cats. After dismantling the Bruins in their opening-round playoff battle, the Panthers look like a team in great form but yet find themselves as underdogs for Game 4.

Our resident hockey expert Ej Garr produced yet another plus-money winner to start the week, and he is expecting the Cats to kill off the Leafs and end their season on Wednesday night.

In this article:

Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs Preview

May 11, 00:07 (UK time)

The Florida Panthers have taken wins from the first three games of their series with the Maple Leafs and Wednesday night could see the end for the Canadian outfit in the post-season.

The line setters tried to convince people that the Leafs would win Game 3 after losing both Games 1 and 2 at home, but that didn’t quite work out for them and here they are on the brink of elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs!

Once again, the oddsmakers are expecting the Leafs to show up and extend this series, but guess what? It’s not going to happen and I am not about to be the guy who tries to convince you otherwise.

Toronto has yet to produce more than two goals from any of the first three games of this series, although they have been listed as the favourite for each game. What has that gotten them so far? Zilch, zero, nada!

This is a classic example of why no one should ever take the approach of thinking that the better team is usually favoured because that is simply a lot of noise and these playoffs have been filled with upsets.

The Panthers have not been favoured in any post-season game this year, and at 2.05 the line setters still want to leave some doubt so the public doesn’t wake up to the fact that the Leafs are simply not very good. What happens during the regular season usually ends up having no bearing on the playoffs because they are two different animals. The Bruins proved as much by producing a record-breaking regular season and yet they are all now home watching the playoffs like all of us.

Toronto let two leads evaporate in Game 3, up 1 – 0 after the first period and up 2 – 1 in the second period but they were never able to score another goal trying to get back in this series.

Florida has now won their last 6 games, and being hot at this moment of the post-season is only giving them more confidence as each win is accumulated. Sergei Bobrovsky only had to deal with 24 shots in Game 3, and that is simply not going to be enough to break through the Panthers.