The Toronto Maple Leafs are facing an uphill battle in their second-round series with the Florida Panthers.

Fresh off of a shocking seven-game win over the Presidents&#8217; Trophy-winning Boston Bruins in the first round, the Panthers came into Toronto and beat the Leafs twice to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the series. The Leafs are now facing what&#8217;s essentially a must-win situation in Game 3 in Florida on Sunday as only a handful of teams have ever come back and won after going down 3-0 in a best-of-seven playoff series.
According to Chris Johnston, Game 3 between the Leafs and Panthers will also be reffed by Wes McCauley, who&#8217;s become a controversial figure around Leafs nation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Referees Wes McCauley and Dan O&#39;Rourke get the call for Game 3 of Leafs/Panthers tonight in Sunrise.
&mdash; Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) <a href="https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/1655168150881591303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
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McCauley called Game 1 between the Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs. The Leafs got hammered by a score of 7-3 and it put them at 0-8 all-time in playoff games that were reffed by McCauley.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Here&#39;s the Toronto Maple Leafs&#39; playoff record (all-time) under referee Wes McCauley. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LeafsForever?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LeafsForever</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MapleLeafs</a> <a href="https://t.co/6tCbfDyiTB">pic.twitter.com/6tCbfDyiTB</a>
&mdash; Scouting The Refs (@ScoutingTheRefs) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScoutingTheRefs/status/1648695273609109509?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2023</a></blockquote>
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During the second intermission of Game 1 between Toronto and Tampa, <a class="text-accent" href="https://twitter.com/AHBSeaborn/status/1648500504807473155?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ESPN analyst and Hall of Fame defenceman Chris Chelios said</a> that the reffing in the game had been “absolutely terrible” and that it was the worst he had seen in a while. But beyond that game, none of <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/the-leafs-are-now-0-8-all-time-in-playoff-games-reffed-by-wes-mccauley">Toronto&#8217;s other seven playoff losses</a> with McCauley reffing featured a noticeable discrepancy in penalties against the Leafs.
<blockquote>The Capitals were heavily favoured over a young Toronto squad in 2017 and the penalties called were even in the <a class="text-accent" href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/201704210WSH.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Game 5 loss that year</a>. There also didn’t appear to be any penalty bias in those three games against the Boston Bruins between 2018 and 2019, and <a class="text-accent" href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/201904230BOS.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the deciding Game 7</a> in the latter of those two series featured no penalties called against the Leafs. The two losses to the Blue Jackets <a class="text-accent" href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/playoffs/2020-columbus-blue-jackets-vs-toronto-maple-leafs-qualifying-round.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">during the bubble tournament in 2020</a> can be chalked up to Columbus’ goalies posting a .952 save percentage during the series. Finally, <a class="text-accent" href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/202205140TOR.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">last year’s Game 7 loss</a> to the Lightning at home saw two penalties called on Toronto, one of which was a delay of game call, and three on Tampa.</blockquote>
<a href="https://holrmagazine.com/wes-mccauley-and-sheldon-keefe/">Fans have pointed out</a> that McCauley reffing Leafs games could be a conflict of interest. McCauley&#8217;s brother-in-law is disgraced minor-league hockey coach David Frost and Sheldon Keefe testified against Frost when he was charged with 12 counts of sexual exploitation by the Ontario Provincial Police in 2006.
<a href="https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/1655235849594757129?s=20">Keefe himself denied</a> that there&#8217;s any strain in his relationship with McCauley&#8230;
<blockquote>&#8220;Officials don&#8217;t have any impact on the game and it&#8217;s not my focus. Wes has treated me like a true professional the whole time that I&#8217;ve been in this league and I&#8217;ve been very appreciative of that.&#8221;</blockquote>

The Toronto Maple Leafs are facing an uphill battle in their second-round series with the Florida Panthers.



Fresh off of a shocking seven-game win over the Presidents' Trophy-winning Boston Bruins in the first round, the Panthers came into Toronto and beat the Leafs twice to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the series. The Leafs are now facing what's essentially a must-win situation in Game 3 in Florida on Sunday as only a handful of teams have ever come back and won after going down 3-0 in a best-of-seven playoff series.

According to Chris Johnston, Game 3 between the Leafs and Panthers will also be reffed by Wes McCauley, who's become a controversial figure around Leafs nation.

https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/1655168150881591303?s=20

McCauley called Game 1 between the Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs. The Leafs got hammered by a score of 7-3 and it put them at 0-8 all-time in playoff games that were reffed by McCauley.

https://twitter.com/ScoutingTheRefs/status/1648695273609109509?s=20

During the second intermission of Game 1 between Toronto and Tampa, <a class="text-accent" href="https://twitter.com/AHBSeaborn/status/1648500504807473155?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ESPN analyst and Hall of Fame defenceman Chris Chelios said</a> that the reffing in the game had been “absolutely terrible” and that it was the worst he had seen in a while. But beyond that game, none of <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/the-leafs-are-now-0-8-all-time-in-playoff-games-reffed-by-wes-mccauley">Toronto's other seven playoff losses</a> with McCauley reffing featured a noticeable discrepancy in penalties against the Leafs.
<blockquote>The Capitals were heavily favoured over a young Toronto squad in 2017 and the penalties called were even in the <a class="text-accent" href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/201704210WSH.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Game 5 loss that year</a>. There also didn’t appear to be any penalty bias in those three games against the Boston Bruins between 2018 and 2019, and <a class="text-accent" href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/201904230BOS.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the deciding Game 7</a> in the latter of those two series featured no penalties called against the Leafs. The two losses to the Blue Jackets <a class="text-accent" href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/playoffs/2020-columbus-blue-jackets-vs-toronto-maple-leafs-qualifying-round.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">during the bubble tournament in 2020</a> can be chalked up to Columbus’ goalies posting a .952 save percentage during the series. Finally, <a class="text-accent" href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/202205140TOR.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">last year’s Game 7 loss</a> to the Lightning at home saw two penalties called on Toronto, one of which was a delay of game call, and three on Tampa.</blockquote>
<a href="https://holrmagazine.com/wes-mccauley-and-sheldon-keefe/">Fans have pointed out</a> that McCauley reffing Leafs games could be a conflict of interest. McCauley's brother-in-law is disgraced minor-league hockey coach David Frost and Sheldon Keefe testified against Frost when he was charged with 12 counts of sexual exploitation by the Ontario Provincial Police in 2006.

<a href="https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/1655235849594757129?s=20">Keefe himself denied</a> that there's any strain in his relationship with McCauley...
<blockquote>"Officials don't have any impact on the game and it's not my focus. Wes has treated me like a true professional the whole time that I've been in this league and I've been very appreciative of that."</blockquote>

Wes McCauley will ref Game 3 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers

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