Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube knows his team is in for a critical test when they take on the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.

Their opponent may be on the second half of a back-to-back and set to play their third game in four days, but that doesn’t make things any easier especially given this presents a prime opportunity to create some separation in the Atlantic Division. Berube stressed that just because the Panthers may be tired doesn’t mean it will be a cakewalk for the Leafs.

“ There’s so many back-to-back games nowadays. You can catch a team on a back-to-back maybe you can take advantage of them, but a lot of times they’re ready to go,” he said to reporters after the morning skate. “ Sometimes some teams come in on a back to back and they actually play a better game the second night. They’re gonna be good tonight. It will be a tight game, it will be a tough game.”

Berube took note of the Panthers’ previous game on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens which he drew parallels to the last time Florida was in town. That contest on March 13th was low-event with little separating the teams at even strength, but the difference ended up being on special teams with Sam Bennett scoring twice on the power play.

One thing that both goals had in common was that Bennett got in front of the net and was able to do his thing, something that the Leafs will need to take note of when they are killing a penalty.

“ We gotta be stronger around there. Recognize the situations a little bit better down there around the net,” Berube said. “ They shoot pucks on their PP from the top and from the sides flanks, but they do run a lot of low plays around the net and they got us twice.”

Doing so will go a long way in helping the Leafs not only extend their lead atop the Atlantic Division but also secure their spot in the playoffs as they only need one point to clinch a birth. Berube said that it was important for the team to get things settled now, especially coming off the California road trip and facing a team they are looking to aspire towards.

“ We want to get to our game as quickly as possible,” he said. “ Coming off that long road trip and everything, we gotta have some energy here tonight, which there should be.  We gotta understand that we gotta just be patient with our game and not get frustrated.  They check well, not a lot of room out there. We can’t get impatient with the puck and we can’t get frustrated, we gotta just  stick with it.”

Berube confirmed that the same lineup he has used for the past two games will be utilized again, with the only change from Sunday being Anthony Stolarz getting the start against his old team. This will be his third start against the Panthers where he is 0-2 to this point, but the coach insisted that there isn’t a correlation between how the netminder plays and the team’s overall performance against Florida.

“I never have,” Berube said when asked about the idea of rotating Stolarz and Joseph Woll during the post-season. “I’ve had to put goalies in, in situations, but that’s something I’ve never done. It’s always a question we’ll discuss, and we’ll go over at some point here. Maybe we already have. We’ll see.”