The Toronto Maple Leafs started their second-round series in an excellent way, taking both Games 1 and 2 at home despite losing goaltender Anthony Stolarz to injury not long into the first game. Although winning one of Games 3 or 4 would have sent the Leafs back to Toronto with a chance to take the series at home, the Panthers reminded them who they were up against.

Game 3 was a matter of bounces and ended up going into overtime, but Game 4 was all Panthers from the start. Goaltender Joseph Woll was the only one who was locked in from start to finish, stopping 35 of 37 shots and doing everything he could to keep his team in the game. Head coach Craig Berube commended Woll for his performance and noted the number of penalties the Leafs took in the first period, essentially spending half of the period killing a penalty, finally allowing the Panthers to convert on the fourth of four power plays.

“He was great, I thought he played an excellent game,” Berube said of Woll’s performance. “All those power plays they had in the first, he was a big reason it was only 1-0.”

The period started with a high-sticking penalty from Max Domi, followed by a boarding call on Bobby McMann, followed by a hooking call on Matthew Knies, and to put the icing on the cake, Oliver Ekman-Larsson airmailed the puck over the boards for a delay of game penalty. The Panthers capitalized on this last power play, giving them a 1-0 lead that they held until the back half of the third period when they made it 2-0. Berube said that he was happy to see his team play physical against a team that loves to hurt their opponents as much as possible, but acknowledged the need to clean up the penalties.

“We don’t need to take those,” Berube continued, referencing the wave of penalties in the first period. “Hooking, interference, we gotta be better, we’ll be smarter than that. But, in the end, I really liked our physicality and compete out there. Guys played hard, it’s a tough series and they’re [Florida] a really good team, we know that. It’s a battle.”

The Leafs have played some great hockey outside of their past two games, and they’ve been rolling with more or less the same lineup since Game 3 against the Senators. Max Pacioretty’s impact upon his addition to the lineup has slashed the need to make any drastic changes, but with two losses in a row and two days before Game 5 against the Panthers, Berube acknowledged that the team will be considering some lineup changes before the series continues.

“I thought most guys were engaged…there are guys that can do more. And we’re going to need more out of them,” Berube said. “So, we’ll figure that out and handle that.”

As it always goes in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, expect Berube to remain tight-lipped about any lineup changes until practice. They won’t want to give the other team any intel whatsoever. But, given his tone and the way the past few games have gone, changes to the lineup for Game 5 appear to be a possibility.

“We’ll look at a couple of different options and what we think will be best for the team. We’ve got a couple of days to think about it, and see if we feel there’s a better option.”