Paul Bissonnette doesn’t see the Panthers’ unlikely postseason run carrying out for much longer.
After scratching and clawing its way into the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, Florida pulled off a stunner by winning its first-round series with the Boston Bruins. The Eastern Conference’s second wild-card team overcame a 3-1 series deficit against the Presidents’ Trophy winners and completed the comeback with an overtime Game 7 win Sunday night at TD Garden.
Next up for the Panthers are the Toronto Maple Leafs, who dispatched the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in Round 1. Bissonnette, a former NHLer who now works as a league analyst, believes Auston Matthews and company will turn the Cinderella Cats back into a pumpkin.
“Incredible,” Bissonnette tweeted Sunday night. “Best team ever gets bounced in the 1st round. Panthers just wouldn’t go away. Don’t worry Bruins fans. The Leafs will finish what you couldn’t.”
The Maple Leafs, who before this season hadn’t won a playoff series since the 2003-04 campaign, were a -176 favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook to win their series with the Panthers as of Monday morning. Toronto claimed three of the four regular-season meetings between the East foes, with two of those tilts decided in overtime.
The Panthers-Maple Leafs series will begin Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena.
