<p>Winning minutes against Aleksander Barkov is already an extremely difficult task. Now, consider that the Florida Panthers have a Barkov clone in Anton Lundell, and it&#8217;s easy to see why the defending champions are considered to be the best defensive team of their generation. Barkov, along with teammate Sam Reinhart are in contention for the Selke Trophy and will likely be tasked with shutting down Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, while providing plus-offence of their own. Lundell has operated as Barkov&#8217;s apprentice, but he&#8217;ll have a much larger role in this series, where he should win his matchup handily against the Leafs&#8217; bottom six.</p>
<p>Lundell is still just 23 year old, but he&#8217;s a seasoned veteran at this point and he&#8217;s one of the NHL&#8217;s most defensively responsible forwards. He&#8217;s beginning to find his scoring touch more regularly, and during the Panthers&#8217; five-game triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning, posting two goals and five points in the final two games of the series. Toronto&#8217;s roster boasts some high-end scorers, but it has lacked depth scoring throughout the season. In a six-game battle against the Ottawa Senators, Max Domi and Max Pacioretty were the only Maple Leafs forwards outside of the vaunted Core Five (for all intents and purposes, Matthew Knies has been added to this group) who scored goals. This perhaps ignores a few timely contributions from the Maple Leafs&#8217; back-end, but the point remains that Lundell and his linemates appear poised to win the bottom-six matchup handily, in a matchup that may come down to the margins.</p>
<p>Lundell is now part of a new-look Panthers&#8217; third line that could be the envy of the league, flanked by Eetu Luostarinen and Brad Marchand. Luostarinen-Lundell-Marchand posted 53.95 percent of the expected goals, with a plus-five differential against the Lightning, and were on the ice for four Panthers goals with zero against, at 5-on-5 via <a href="https://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20242025&amp;game=30120">Natural Stat Trick</a>. Lundell is rapidly improving at getting to the high-danger areas, he has sustained chemistry with Luostarinen and he&#8217;s clearly building a highly-effective two-man game with Marchand, where the veteran winger is quickly learning where his linemates want the puck.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">ANTON LUNDELL BREAKS THE ICE IN GAME 4! 🧊 <a href="https://t.co/xjSGSRqgMX">pic.twitter.com/xjSGSRqgMX</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1917010873987539343?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Lundell, like Marchand, is elite at turning his opponents&#8217; mistakes into instant offence, and while the Leafs play a risk-averse style under Craig Berube, the Panthers have a formidable advantage over Max Domi and Pontus Holmberg. Berube has tinkered with the third line, where Domi has primarily operated as the third-line centre, but can move Domi to the wing if need be. Holmberg is far more defensively responsible than Domi, but he&#8217;s still an inferior defensive player to Lundell, and could get suffocated before reaching the offensive zone. It&#8217;s clear that this series will be primarily dictated by how Matthews — or the John Tavares-William Nylander line — fare against Barkov, the ancillary players are in place to augment the stars after all — but the Panthers have a legitimately star-studded third line and it may end up being the difference.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a different set of circumstances from two years ago, as the Maple Leafs have a new identity under Berube as a defensive-minded team that values shot location, while the once-upstart Panthers are now the defending champions, with a perpetual target on their back. Lundell&#8217;s game has grown significantly in the past two years, and he could potentially feast in all situations, as he&#8217;ll be squaring off against the Leafs&#8217; atomic power play as a lead penalty killer as well. Barkov is already a matchup nightmare for any team, and the Panthers have a clone of their captain on the third line. Lundell has outgrown the &#8216;Baby Barkov&#8217; designation, he&#8217;s capable of tilting the ice with a Hall of Fame winger alongside him this spring, and the Panthers&#8217; third line very well could be the x-factor in this series.</p>
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Winning minutes against Aleksander Barkov is already an extremely difficult task. Now, consider that the Florida Panthers have a Barkov clone in Anton Lundell, and it's easy to see why the defending champions are considered to be the best defensive team of their generation. Barkov, along with teammate Sam Reinhart are in contention for the Selke Trophy and will likely be tasked with shutting down Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, while providing plus-offence of their own. Lundell has operated as Barkov's apprentice, but he'll have a much larger role in this series, where he should win his matchup handily against the Leafs' bottom six.

Lundell is still just 23 year old, but he's a seasoned veteran at this point and he's one of the NHL's most defensively responsible forwards. He's beginning to find his scoring touch more regularly, and during the Panthers' five-game triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning, posting two goals and five points in the final two games of the series. Toronto's roster boasts some high-end scorers, but it has lacked depth scoring throughout the season. In a six-game battle against the Ottawa Senators, Max Domi and Max Pacioretty were the only Maple Leafs forwards outside of the vaunted Core Five (for all intents and purposes, Matthew Knies has been added to this group) who scored goals. This perhaps ignores a few timely contributions from the Maple Leafs' back-end, but the point remains that Lundell and his linemates appear poised to win the bottom-six matchup handily, in a matchup that may come down to the margins.

Lundell is now part of a new-look Panthers' third line that could be the envy of the league, flanked by Eetu Luostarinen and Brad Marchand. Luostarinen-Lundell-Marchand posted 53.95 percent of the expected goals, with a plus-five differential against the Lightning, and were on the ice for four Panthers goals with zero against, at 5-on-5 via <a href="https://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20242025&amp;game=30120">Natural Stat Trick</a>. Lundell is rapidly improving at getting to the high-danger areas, he has sustained chemistry with Luostarinen and he's clearly building a highly-effective two-man game with Marchand, where the veteran winger is quickly learning where his linemates want the puck.

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1917010873987539343

Lundell, like Marchand, is elite at turning his opponents' mistakes into instant offence, and while the Leafs play a risk-averse style under Craig Berube, the Panthers have a formidable advantage over Max Domi and Pontus Holmberg. Berube has tinkered with the third line, where Domi has primarily operated as the third-line centre, but can move Domi to the wing if need be. Holmberg is far more defensively responsible than Domi, but he's still an inferior defensive player to Lundell, and could get suffocated before reaching the offensive zone. It's clear that this series will be primarily dictated by how Matthews — or the John Tavares-William Nylander line — fare against Barkov, the ancillary players are in place to augment the stars after all — but the Panthers have a legitimately star-studded third line and it may end up being the difference.

It's a different set of circumstances from two years ago, as the Maple Leafs have a new identity under Berube as a defensive-minded team that values shot location, while the once-upstart Panthers are now the defending champions, with a perpetual target on their back. Lundell's game has grown significantly in the past two years, and he could potentially feast in all situations, as he'll be squaring off against the Leafs' atomic power play as a lead penalty killer as well. Barkov is already a matchup nightmare for any team, and the Panthers have a clone of their captain on the third line. Lundell has outgrown the 'Baby Barkov' designation, he's capable of tilting the ice with a Hall of Fame winger alongside him this spring, and the Panthers' third line very well could be the x-factor in this series.
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Anton Lundell outgrows ‘Baby Barkov’ nickname, will be x-factor for Panthers

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