The Tampa Bay Lightning signed forward Michael Eyssimont to a two-year contract worth $800,000 per season, the team announced Friday.
Eyssimont was scheduled to become a Group 6 unrestricted free agent this offseason as a 25-and-older player with three professional seasons under his belt but fewer than 80 total games.
The Bolts acquired Eyssimont before the trade deadline from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Vladislav Namestnikov, and he produced two points in 15 games after arriving in Tampa.
Eyssimont started the 2022-23 campaign with the Winnipeg Jets and was a fifth-round draft choice of the Los Angeles Kings in 2016.
Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett was fined $5,000 for cross-checking Toronto Maple Leafs winger Michael Bunting in the neck in Game 2 on Thursday, the league announced.
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) May 4, 2023
Knies was forced to leave the game with a concussion and is likely to miss the rest of the series.
Bennett has been suspended twice in his nine-year NHL career. He got three games in 2022 for an illegal check to the head and received a one-game ban in 2021 for boarding.
Bennett, who centers Florida's second line, has recorded four goals and three assists in eight playoff games so far. His Panthers lead Toronto 2-0.
Toronto Maple Leafs rookie forward Matthew Knies suffered a concussion in Game 2 against the Florida Panthers on Thursday and will miss at least the next two contests, head coach Sheldon Keefe said Friday, per TSN's Chris Johnston.
Keefe added that Knies is unlikely to return to the series against Florida.
Knies was slammed into the boards and then onto the ice by Panthers forward Sam Bennett, who wasn't penalized on the play.
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) May 4, 2023
Bennett came under fire for a different play in Game 2 when he cross-checked Michael Bunting in the neck. He received a two-minute minor for that play but avoided suspension.
Despite entering the playoffs with just three NHL regular-season games under his belt, Knies had established himself as a mainstay in Toronto's lineup. The 6-foot-3 power forward was even getting looks on the club's top line.
Knies, 20, has collected a goal and three assists in seven playoff games so far. His 59.5% five-on-five expected goals share ranks fourth on the Leafs this postseason, per Natural Stat Trick.
The Leafs selected Knies 57th overall in the 2021 draft. He was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA's top men's hockey player in 2022-23 after racking up 21 goals and 21 assists in 40 games with Minnesota.
Alexander Kerfoot will likely be promoted to the top nine in Knies' absence. Zach Aston-Reese projects to re-enter the lineup if the Leafs decide to roster 12 forwards, while Justin Holl and Erik Gustafsson are candidates to play if Toronto opts for an 11-7 configuration.
The Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves in a 2-0 hole despite playing fairly well through the first leg of their second-round series against the Florida Panthers. A critical Game 3 is set for Sunday in Sunrise, Florida. Here are four ways the Leafs - who must win four of the next five games - can salvage their season.
Let Nylander cook
Richard Lautens / Getty Images
Listen, William Nylander can be a frustrating player. He can occasionally space out on defense, missing an assignment or putting forth little effort, as he did at points in Game 1. He can make the odd head-scratching decision with the puck, too, as he did at points in Games 1 and 2. For example, he inexplicably passed on a wide-open lane to Florida's net in the second period of Game 1.
Nylander can also be an exhilarating player. The boxscore might not reflect it, but he's overwhelmed the Panthers all series, pressing the speed-boost button in the neutral zone countless times over 38 minutes of action. The smooth-skating Swede's been weaving through Florida's defensive shell, completing clean zone entries, and shooting from high-leverage scoring areas.
The results, Part 1: a series-high 13 shots on goal, and the second-highest individual expected goals generation, at 1.66, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The results, Part 2: zero points.
Mark Blinch / Getty Images
Sergei Bobrovsky, a .901 goalie in the regular season, has turned aside 69 of 73 Toronto shots on goal for a series-tilting .945 save percentage. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner has been nothing short of phenomenal, already saving a cool 4.28 goals above expected, per Natural Stat Trick.
On one hand, Nylander's lack of finishing is unacceptable. There are no moral victories in the playoffs, and it's not as if Nylander and his teammates are throwing everything possible at Bobrovsky. He isn't battling tricky deflections and tips, or being screened.
On the other hand, no Leafs player is feeling it right now quite like Nylander, and Sheldon Keefe knows this better than anyone. The Leafs coach must take the bad with the good and feed the explosive winger and his center, John Tavares, with offensive-zone starts. Doubling down should lead to goals.
At the top of the lineup, the Panthers have Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk to counter Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Florida's second layer of offensive pop, matching up with Nylander and Tavares, includes who? Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett? Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart? These are fun, clutch players, but none of them are as purely talented as Nylander.
That's precisely why No. 88's so crucial moving forward: He's the Leafs' edge.
Meanwhile, Tavares had a few Grade-A scoring opportunities of his own in Game 2, even hitting the post in the second period. Matthews, who struck iron in the third period of Game 1, has been buzzing all series, peppering Bobrovsky on the power play while earning a series-high 72% five-on-five expected goals rate. Marner's been his usual crafty self. All three are due.
Simplify puck plays
Michael Chisholm / Getty Images
The Panthers have recorded 21 five-on-five goals in nine playoff games. Nine of 21, including two Thursday, have come within five seconds of a turnover.
This opportunistic brand of hockey, fueled by a surgical forecheck and cycle game, has been the series' key battleground. Similar to Nylander failing to solve Bobrovsky, the Leafs deserve plenty of blame for surrendering these chances. Yet the Panthers' nearly flawless execution can't be discounted.
Florida's such a well-connected, straight-line team that it's reasonable to expect its habit of turning nothing into something will continue. The Panthers' opening tally in Game 2 was a masterclass in how to score a "gritty" goal in the modern NHL. Each of Reinhart, Eetu Luostarinen, and Anton Lundell knew their specified duties and got to work as a unit - steal the puck, dump the puck, chase the puck, pass it, shoot it. No luck, just sustainable hockey.
The Leafs need to simplify in Game 3 and beyond, especially in transition.
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
If the puck's on your stick a few feet inside or outside your blue line, opt for the safer play. In that vulnerable area of the ice, manage the puck under the assumption the Panthers are ready to embarrass you. Sure, that's Hockey 101-level advice for the best of the best on the planet. It isn't anything they haven't heard. However, puck management's become a back-breaking issue.
The Leafs have averaged 15 giveaways per game this series, and defenseman Timothy Liljegren (first Panthers goal), Nylander (second goal), and both Marner and Matthews (third goal) all coughed up the puck in devastating fashion in Game 2. It's been a comedy of errors for a squad that averaged 10.5 giveaways per game in the first round and 10.3 a contest in the regular season.
Toronto had problems breaking the puck out of its own end in Game 1. While Florida is still wreaking havoc deep in Toronto's end, the Leafs were better at penetrating the Panthers' multi-layered forecheck in Game 2. Progress.
Make Panthers pay
For all the offense initiated by their functional physicality and nifty stick work, the Panthers cross the line often. We knew about this undisciplined streak ahead of Round 2, and the first two games have only solidified the reputation.
The Leafs have been granted seven power-play opportunities in two games - not bad if you hadn't watched the games, but not great if you had, given the handful of missed calls. The on-ice officials have ignored clear-cut infractions from the more aggressive team. Most glaringly, Bennett's WWE-style takedown in Game 2 injured Leafs rookie Matthew Knies but went unpenalized.
Steve Russell / Getty Images
Toronto can't control what's going to be called and not called. What the Leafs can do is make Florida pay for being undisciplined. Tampa Bay shut out their power play in Games 5 and 6 of the first round; in the second round, Matthews, Marner, and the rest of the star-studded power-play contingent has generated just one goal off 12 scoring chances over 10 minutes.
Keep an eye out for Bennett in Game 3. Not because the Leafs will be looking for blood following the Knies incident, but because it feels like Bennett's been taking too many risks. He's prioritized body checks and cross-checks over winning 50/50 pucks, directing more energy toward agitating than scoring.
Will Bennett get caught up in the villain role? Will the constant agitation come back to bite him in the form of a stupid penalty and subsequent Leafs goal?
Address blue-line woes
Mark Blinch / Getty Images
The extra day off between Games 2 and 3 is a blessing for the Leafs. The players could use the rest and Keefe could use the lineup-pondering time.
With Knies out with a concussion, Zach Aston-Reese could return to the wing. The back end is an entirely different conundrum, with the Panthers carving Mark Giordano and Liljegren in Game 2. Giordano, 39, has looked his age as the postseason has chugged along. Liljegren, listed at 6-foot-1 and 192 pounds, has been equally bad against Florida, constantly getting outmuscled along the boards and mishandling the puck under pressure.
In Game 6 of the Lightning series, Liljegren's first game of the playoffs, he played only 10:31 because Keefe opted for an 11-forward, seven-defenseman configuration. Perhaps the bench boss forgoes reinserting Aston-Reese on Sunday and instead tries 11-and-7 again, with either Justin Holl or Erik Gustafsson occupying the seventh blue-liner spot. Holl's the better penalty killer and Gustafsson's the better puck-mover. Given the Leafs' breakout struggles, Gustafsson would be the natural choice, while there's a pros-versus-cons conversation to be had about Holl replacing Giordano or Liljegren.
The 11-and-7 would also unlock a few additional shifts for the Leafs' top guns and secondary contributors, specifically wingers Michael Bunting and Calle Jarnkrok, who skated for only 15:11 and 8:36, respectively, in Game 2.
The third pair's been a disaster. Luckily for the Leafs, Jake McCabe and T.J. Brodie, despite a few mental lapses, have held their own against Florida, and Morgan Rielly and Luke Schenn have been tremendous the entire playoff run.
John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).
The 2023 World Hockey Championship will take place from May 12-28 in Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia. The rosters for the tourney are taking shape, so we've compiled the notable names listed alphabetically by country.
The Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves in a 0-2 hole after dropping Game 2 of their second-round series against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. Head coach Sheldon Keefe pointed to an abysmal start to the second period as the main source of his team's undoing.
"Disappointing. Baffling," Keefe said after Toronto's 3-2 defeat, per Sports Illustrated's David Alter. "We didn't make those mistakes one time in the last series."
Toronto entered the middle frame with a 2-1 lead, but the Panthers changed that in a hurry with two goals in the opening 1:06 of the period.
The game would stay locked 3-2 as Toronto was unable to solve goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky - who surrendered two quick goals in the first five minutes of the matchup - for the remainder of the contest.
Bobrovsky made 35 stops on 37 shots and saved 1.82 goals above expected at all strengths in Game 2, according to Natural Stat Trick. He was similarly stellar in the series' opening game, in which he stopped 34 of 36 shots.
The veteran is handily winning the goaltending battle in Round 2, but Maple Leafs netminder Ilya Samsonov made it clear he's unfazed by his fellow countryman.
"I don't give a f--k," Samsonov said Thursday when asked if he felt he has to match Bobrovsky's strong play, per Sportsnet. "It doesn't matter to me. I'm doing my work, he's doing his work."
The Panthers were much more appreciative of Bobrovsky's performance, who has won five straight playoff games.
"I think you need your goaltender to win you a game every series, and he did that tonight," bench boss Paul Maurice said, according to team beat reporter Jameson Olive.
Game 3 is set for Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET as the series shifts to Sunrise.
San Jose Sharks veteran Erik Karlsson, New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, and Colorado Avalanche blue-liner Cale Makar are the 2022-23 Norris Trophy finalists, the NHL announced Thursday.
The award is voted on annually by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association at the end of the regular season and presented "to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position."
Karlsson is gunning for his third Norris Trophy after enjoying a comeback season for the ages. The 32-year-old led all defensemen with 25 goals and 101 points in 82 contests and became the first rearguard since Brian Leetch in 1991-92 to hit the century mark. Karlsson also ranked fourth among all skaters with 74 even-strength points while averaging the fifth-most ice time (25:37) in the league, trailing just Makar, Drew Doughty, Rasmus Dahlin, and Quinn Hughes.
The 6-foot Swede also posted respectable underlying numbers on the struggling Sharks this season. San Jose controlled 53.6% of the shot attempts, 52.3% of the shots, 53.5% of the expected goals, and 50% of the goals at five-on-five with Karlsson on the ice, per Natural Stat Trick. Opponents outscored the Sharks 124-72 in the almost 2,326 minutes with Karlsson on the bench at five-on-five this campaign.
Fox took home the Norris Trophy in 2021. He set a new career high with 12 goals this season and ranked eighth among all blue-liners with 72 points in 82 games. Fox also tied Carolina Hurricanes stalwart Jaccob Slavin for the most takeaways (88).
The 25-year-old paced his teammates in average ice time (24:23) and was a plus-28. New York again drove the play with Fox on the ice this season. Among all Rangers skaters to log at least 500 minutes at five-on-five, Fox led the way in shot attempts for percentage (54.3) and scoring chances for percentage (55.1) while ranking in the top five in goals for percentage (59.5) and expected goals for percentage (54.1).
Makar is the reigning Norris Trophy winner and was named a finalist for the third straight year. If he's victorious this season, he'll become the first blue-liner to win in back-to-back years since Nicklas Lidstrom pulled off the three-peat beginning in 2006.
The star missed 22 games due to injury this season, but he was stellar when he slotted into the lineup, contributing 66 points (17 goals, 49 assists) in 60 contests. Makar's 1.10 point-per-game rate places second among all rearguards in 2022-23 - trailing only Karlsson - and he led the league in average ice time, eating up 26:23 minutes per night.
Despite his time on the sidelines, Makar still ranked eighth among defensemen in goals above replacement (16.4) and wins above replacement (2.8), according to Evolving Hockey. The Avalanche dictated 56.6% of the shot attempts, 54.2% of the shots, 59.1% of the goals, and 56.6% of the expected goals with Makar on the ice at five-on-five.
The 2023 NHL Awards begins at 8 p.m. ET on June 26.
Dan and Sat are joined by Abbotsford Canucks Head Coach Jeremy Colliton to discuss the AHL team's playoff run, their series against the Wranglers, and the atmosphere in the Fraser Valley.
This podcast was produced by Josh Elliott-Wolfe.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
