3 Keys: Panthers at Maple Leafs, Game 1 of Eastern 2nd Round

(WC2) Panthers at (A2) Maple Leafs

Eastern Conference Second Round, Game 1

7 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, SN, TVAS

TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs will face the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Scotibank Arena on Tuesday, marking the first time Toronto will play a second round game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since May 4, 2004.

The 19-year drought between Maple Leafs postseason series wins ended when center John Tavares scored at 4:36 in overtime for a 2-1 win in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, giving Toronto a 4-2 series victory.

With that burden now expunged, Tavares said Toronto is viewing it not as an accomplishment but an opportunity.

"We want that to push us forward," Tavares said. "I think it's just one step of four that we are trying to make here in the playoffs. Obviously it was a long time coming for us so it obviously is great to come through, but it's great because we get the challenge of the second step now and the opportunity to continue our season and compete in the playoffs."

The Panthers overcame a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the Presidents' Trophy winning Boston Bruins, who finished with an NHL record 65 wins during the regular season. Forward Carter Verhaeghe's goal at 8:35 of overtime gave Florida a 4-3 win at Boston in Game 7 of their first-round series Sunday.

RELATED: [Complete Maple Leafs vs. Panthers series coverage]

"A very quick turnaround, but one that we are certainly excited about," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "Not many people thought we'd be in this position, so very similar series for us. There's not a lot of people out there who think we're going to be able to pull this one off, just like they didn't think we could pull the last one off."

The Maple Leafs were 3-0-1 against the Panthers during the regular season, with three of the four games decided in overtime; Florida was 1-1-2.

Here are 3 keys for Game 1:

1. Keep Tkachuk in check

Tkachuk has been everything the Panthers were hoping for when they acquired the forward in a blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames on Jul. 25, 2022, with forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar going to Calgary in return.

Tkachuk led Florida with 11 points (five goals, six assists) in its first-round triumph and tied defenseman Brandon Montour for the team lead in goals. During the regular season, Tkachuk finished with an NHL career-high 109 points (40 goals, 69 assists), 31 more than center Aleksander Barkov, who was second on the Panthers with 78 points (23 goals, 55 assists).

"It's tough with the player he is, the way he impacts the game," Toronto center Ryan O'Reilly said. "I feel like every shift he is doing something, either putting it in the net, or getting in guys' faces, being an agitator, finishing checks, he just brings so many elements. We have to try to wear him down, try to be physical and make life difficult for him."

2. Riding high

Though Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe was happy to take the extra day of rest after clinching their series Saturday, he cautioned his team against taking lightly a Florida team still coming down from the high of vanquishing Boston.

"We got the day of rest to travel back, got a practice day so our game should be in order in that sense," Keefe said, "but that said, we've got a team coming in riding the high of a Game 7 and I think historically speaking, these type of games tend to favor the team coming off the Game 7 win. So we've got that to contend with and a team that is feeling really good as they should be, because [of] the big win the other night and probably haven't had much time to come down from that whereas we have.

"We have to make sure that we are able to ramp back up. Our focus is to get off to a good start here and certainly we did not do that in Round 1 so there's more than enough things to get our attention here tonight."

3. Underdogs? Who us?

The Panthers would appear to be the underdog again against the Maple Leafs, just as they were against the Bruins, but that is not how they are approaching the matchup.

Boston finished 43 points ahead of Florida during the regular season, but that disparity ended up not mattering in the first round. That's why despite finishing 19 points behind the Maple Leafs during the regular season, the Panthers are not viewing themselves as the inferior team.

"When you shave half the good teams out of the playoff picture, you're only left with good teams," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "There's no bad teams left. We spend too much time looking at first versus wildcard and underdog, they're all good teams. ... That gap isn't as big as people think, the separation isn't as big as people think."

Panthers projected lineup

Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Anthony Duclair

Nick Cousins -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Sam Reinhart

Colin White -- Eric Staal -- Zac Dalpe

Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad

Marc Staal -- Brandon Montour

Josh Mahura -- Radko Gudas

Sergei Bobrovsky

Alex Lyon

Scratched: Givani Smith, Mike Benning, Casey Fitzgerald, Evan Fitzpatrick

Injured: Ryan Lomberg (upper body), Patric Hornqvist (concussion)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Matthew Knies-- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander

Calle Jarnkrok -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner

Michael Bunting -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Noel Acciari

Zach Aston-Reese -- David Kampf -- Alex Kerfoot

Jake McCabe -- TJ Brodie

Mark Giordano -- Timothy Liljegren

Morgan Rielly -- Luke Schenn

Ilya Samsonov

Joseph Woll

Scratched: Erik Gustafsson, Conor Timmins, Wayne Simmonds, Sam Lafferty, Justin Holl

Injured: Jake Muzzin (neck), Victor Mete (upper body), Nicholas Robertson (shoulder), Carl Dahlstrom (shoulder), Matt Murray (head)

Status report

The Panthers are expected to dress the same lineup they used in their win at the Bruins in Game 7 of the first round on Sunday. ... Murray was a full participant in practice on Monday for the first time since being injured on April 2, but the goalie will not dress.