The title is yes, quite pessimistic, but the series is still 3-1 Panthers. Now that this is out of the way. Maple Leafs win 2-1 and stave off elimination in which, honest to God, it was their best game played in three weeks (or Game 2 vs Tampa). So yeah it’s been a while.

The first period was a back-and-forth period that wasn’t too eventful, and there was one dummy moment when the bane to my existence as a Maple Leafs fan, Justin Holl, took a lazy penalty.

Fast-forward to the second period and the Maple Leafs are cruising, buzzing, getting chance after chance. But all of a sudden, Eetu Luostarinen gets his stick up on Michael Bunting and goes to the box, which should’ve been a 4-minute penalty — but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. The power play is ensuing, Bob is hot. Then all of a sudden, the Swedish man with the flow they call Willy Styles gets the job done; ugly, I might add, but that is PLAYOFF Hockey, and the Maple Leafs are up 1-0.

William Nylander 3rd of the Playoffs vs Florida Panthers courtesy of Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph. #LeafsForever @BonsieTweets @Jim_Ralph

10/5/2023 pic.twitter.com/JP3PYyLFgO

— LeafsJellyHD (@LeafsJelly) May 11, 2023

Then in the second period, Radko Gudas decided to obliterate David Kampf, but no call on the play for him, yet a Maple Leafs penalty, LOL. We go into the second intermission with a 1-0 lead.

The third period, the Maple Leafs came out needing insurance — an insurance goal that is. A 2-0 score would be sweet. And when you need a hero to emerge the most — an $11 million hero to be exact —  the one who wears 16 said “Give me the puck and I will become your hero.” Mitch Marner makes it 2-0 Maple Leafs, with just under 10 minutes to go.

MITCH MARNER MAKES IT 2-0 LEAFS ‼️

Watch Game of the #StanleyCup Playoffs live on Sportsnet. pic.twitter.com/dBocwd1Nbb

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 11, 2023

After the 2-0 insurance goal, God’s strongest soldier, Marc Staal, is a slow old man who got tangled up with Alex Kerfoot who got a tripping call and, on the power play, the Florida Panthers get within one.

Sam Reinhart gets one back for the Panthers to close the gap to just one goal 👀

Anytime Goalscorer +200 ✅

📽️: @Sportsnet | #TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/LVRnOumak0

— bet365 CA (@bet365ca) May 11, 2023

Thanks a lot, Justin Holl, for the killer effort.

Sheldon Keefe doesn’t panic, calls a timeout, rallies the boys together and the Maple Leafs hold the fort for the last seven minutes, win Game 4 and send this one back to Toronto for Game 5 on Friday night. However, I should add chaos ensued after the final whistle, in which the world’s oldest 27 year old walked away with a 2 and a 10 minute misconduct.

scrum at the end of the game pic.twitter.com/7C55XHqjMt

— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) May 11, 2023

Lost in all of my writing was the stellar play of Joseph Woll, who didn’t Woll-over and die at all tonight. Ok, I’ll stop there. But in all seriousness. Joseph played great — calm, cool and collected throughout the entire game, and to what I’m pretty sure earned him a Game 5 start. But that is a problem for Friday.

Just remember this Leafs Nation: take it one game at a time, nothing is guaranteed beyond Friday.