Panthers’ Paul Maurice gets real on plan for defending Leafs’ Auston Matthews

In a rematch of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs will clash on Monday in a must-watch Atlantic Division matchup. Just six points separate these two teams with a couple of weeks left in the regular season, so it’s an important one.

Ahead of the contest, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice had a priceless answer to a question on how he’ll defend Auston Matthews, who is having a mind-boggling campaign.

Via Chris Johnston:

“Well, man, what game is it? 74? He’s got 60 (goals) so nobody’s figured that out. I’m not the smartest guy in the league. I’m just going to put a bunch of guys out and hope they defend the hell out of it, if they can.”

The Panthers do have the best blue line in the league. They’re allowing an NHL-low 2.43 goals per contest. And for what it’s worth, Matthews hasn’t registered a single point against Florida in two meetings in 2023-24. Regardless of what Maurice said, the Panthers defense is clearly capable of slowing down the Maple Leafs star.

Matthews dominating this season

While playoff success is all that matters to Matthews and the Leafs, it’s hard to ignore just how electric the former first overall has been this season. 2021-22 saw him score 60 times and he’s already at that number with nine games to go. Overall, Matthews has 60 goals and 35 assists. William Nylander also had 95 points. Overall, Toronto has countless many weapons and will be a dangerous team in the postseason. It remains to be seen if they can conquer their playoff demons and finally win a Stanley Cup, though.

Panthers look the part

Florida made a Cinderella run to the Cup a year ago to the surprise of many. Instead of barely sneaking into the playoffs this season, the Panthers are one of the best teams around. Maurice’s squad is second in the Atlantic with 99 points, only two points behind the Boston Bruins.

As previously mentioned, defense is the biggest strength for the Panthers and as the old saying goes, defense wins championships. This group has an impressive core four who can produce offensively, however. Sam Reinhart is up to 86 points amid a career year and will be a coveted free agent this summer, with Florida hoping to retain him. Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, and Carter Verhaeghe have all surpassed 70 points apiece, too.

Florida is just 4-5-1 in their last 10 outings but did get back on track on Saturday evening, beating the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout. Considering the Maple Leafs lost all three home games in their playoff series with the Panthers in 2023, they will be motivated to come out and put their best forward in front of the Toronto fans. Matthews will play a key part in that. He’s tallied at least a point in seven straight games.