The Florida Panthers lost their first one. “It was the perfect storm of that’s not the way you want to start when everyone has lots of energy and jumps, but there’s some tension to it always at the start,” Paul Maurice said after losing 4-5 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday at Game 1 of the Playoff Series. While everything seemed to be buzzing with the Leafs coming out swinging like they had something to prove, William Nylander just did it! Thanks to those racking up two goals and an assist in the first period alone. But hey, this isn’t where the actual plot of the story lies.
Talk about a fierce clash with some hits and smashes; the game turned out exactly the way. Fresh off their ‘Battle of Ontario’ victory over Ottawa, the Maple Leafs now face the Florida Panthers in Round 2. And now is it the one against Florida? Well, let’s say the Leafs were ready—until the mishap happened! Following which, things just took a sudden turn when the Maple Leafs’ goaltender Anthony Stolarz got caught with an awkward elbow to the head from the Panthers’ forward Sam Bennett. And soon after that, a trail of chaos, bruises, and boiling tempers started.
Because nothing looked too nasty at first, but minutes later, the NHL community and Florida Panthers fans started buzzing. Was it deliberate or reckless? Questions flooded the comment section of many posts, but what concerned them next was not how much or what the penalty was. Rather, what made the authorities not step in when another such incident involving Sam Reinhart took place? “The no-call on Reinhart being tripped. The Panthers haven’t played great but the refs definitely have not helped them,” Dylan—an NHL insider—dropped the bombshell on X! And what followed next was just a series of concerns and frustrations regarding poor officiating during the play.
The no call on Reinhart being tripped. The Panthers haven’t played great but the refs definitely have not helped them https://t.co/IJQzB52eHH pic.twitter.com/fql2SEnYXx
— x – Dylan (@miamiguydylan) May 6, 2025
Because Reinhart got tripped, it felt like the series wasn’t just about hockey anymore. Fans raised their concerns for justice and held grudges against the ref! After all, when the chaos surrounded Bennett, many NHL insiders called for Player Safety to step in. “Elbow to the head, clear as day. I get it. They miss calls, but that’s clearly a penalty,” the Toronto head coach Craig Berube said. Meanwhile, on the other end of the controversy, it was Reinhart’s failed scoring attempt that sparked its own storm while he appeared to be tripped near the goal with no call being made.
Not to the Panthers fans for whom the night wasn’t just a tough loss but where many thought the officiating needle leaned the wrong way. First with Bennett and now Reinhart, the Florida Panthers just had a rough start to their next playoff series that now turned into a heated defense for many. Call it their deepening frustration or strengthening loyalty, but this isn’t exactly what they thought of facing amidst the playoff series.
NHL fans react to the Florida Panthers’ missed call!
Well, Florida fans were not frustrated with what they think of as inconsistent officiating but felt that the Leafs were gifted with many opportunities that made them lead the game. Hence, starting the blame game with comments flooding in the comment section of Dylan’s post! And pointing this out, one fan expressed their disappointment when they wrote, “This after Toronto got 3 straight very soft called power plays. Like cmon!”—stating that the Panthers were simply ignored in such moments! And who is to blame for it?
The refs who couldn’t pick the right decisions. “I mean Bennett concussed the Leafs goalie, no call…but sure, Florida lost bc of the refs. ,” another one said. While this one didn’t simply try to back the team with supportive statements but rather gave a classic X-style clapback that downplayed Bennett’s hit but blamed refs for their own loss too. And it didn’t just stop there while another one brought a reference from the historic missed call from the 2016 playoffs when Vincent Trocheck faced a similar situation—“Another “Trocheck was tripped” moment,” they wrote, emphasizing the kind of bad luck that keeps on haunting the Panthers repeatedly.
But then comes the heavy conspiracy where one fan signals how there’s a bias against the Panthers by the league. “It is very very clear to me that the league is desperate for the Panthers not to repeat,” they wrote but what is it that the league doesn’t want the Panthers to repeat? Indeed, the Stanley Cup. Well, only time can decide that, because Tkachuk and his Panthers can rush and lead their way anytime soon! But with many missed on-calls like the one that’s related to Reinhart and leading immediate goals to the Leafs, it isn’t going to be that easy for the Florida Panthers now. Perhaps the reason why fans said, “Then the goal came straight after. Shocking they didn’t see this.” After all, it felt like a strong gut punch that just tilted the game and slipped it out of the Panthers’ hands, didn’t it?
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