FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers did not have to wait very long to find out who they will play in the Eastern Conference Second Round.
And it will be against some old “friends,” literally and figuratively.
The defending Stanley Cup champions, who finished off the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games on Wednesday, found out Thursday they will face the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference Second Round.
The two teams also played in the second round in 2023, with Florida winning that best-of-7 series in five games on their way to the Stanley Cup Final. They fell in the Final that season before winning it last year.
In fact, three members of that championship team now play for the Maple Leafs: goalie Anthony Stolarz, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and forward Steven Lorentz. All three signed with Toronto in the offseason as free agents after each played one memorable season for Florida.
Ekman-Larsson played 13 NHL seasons before arriving in Florida on July 1, 2023. Stolarz had bounced around the NHL as a backup goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks before signing as a free agent with Florida on the same day. He played 27 games last season as Sergei Bobrovsky’s backup but has established himself as the No. 1 in Toronto. Lorentz, who played 38 regular-season games and 16 playoff games for the Panthers last season, has been a regular for Toronto this season, playing in 80 regular-season games. He signed with the Maple Leafs on Oct. 7.
“Good for all of them,’’ Florida coach Paul Maurice said Friday. “Oliver Ekman-Larsson had established his career long before he came to us and was a big part of our success last year. But both of those men, Steve Lorentz and Anthony, are at a new level, a new opportunity with Toronto, and they have made the most of it.
“They have played very, very well. So, we’re very happy for them. Those guys were a big part of it, and that story gets to endure in our locker room for the men who played. So, they still are a big part of that story.’’
The Panthers and Maple Leafs are also very familiar with each other from playing each other so many times over the years.
This season, the Atlantic Division rivals first played in November, but they did not meet up again until March 13 in what would be the first of three meetings over the final four weeks of the regular season.
The Panthers won three of the four games between the two during the regular season, but Toronto’s 3-2 win at Scotiabank Arena on April 2 all but ended Florida’s chances at winning the Atlantic Division title. Toronto won the division and will have home-ice advantage in the series when it begins.
“They obviously won the division this year, are a very talented team,’’ said defenseman Seth Jones, who was acquired by the Panthers in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on March 1. “They are very offensive, and we definitely have our work cut out for us. But we will do the right things in the next few days, prepare for that, and be ready for Game 1.’’
