{"id":468603,"date":"2025-05-14T09:51:39","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T13:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=468603"},"modified":"2025-05-14T09:51:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T13:51:39","slug":"nhl-predictions-game-5-florida-panthers-vs-toronto-maple-leafs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/05\/14\/nhl-predictions-game-5-florida-panthers-vs-toronto-maple-leafs\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: Game 5 Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to another NHL Predictions. Each day our writers here at\u00a0<em>Last Word on Hockey<\/em>\u00a0look at the games and give in-depth analysis. Our team breaks down the key matchups, storylines, and stats, then makes predictions based on how they might play out. For this edition, we will look at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/05\/10\/toronto-maple-leafs-florida-panthers-mid-playoff-series-recap-playoffs-game-3\/\" target=\"_self\">Florida Panthers<\/a>\u00a0taking on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/05\/11\/nhl-predictions-game-4-toronto-maple-leafs-vs-florida-panthers\/\" target=\"_self\">Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> in this pivotal Game 5 of their second-round series. Don\u2019t forget to check out more <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/05\/14\/nhl-predictions-playoffs-edition-edmonton-oilers-vs-vegas-golden-knights-game-5\/\" target=\"_self\">NHL Predictions<\/a>,\u00a0as our writers continue this series throughout the 2025 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n<h2>NHL Predictions<\/h2>\n<h3>Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs<\/h3>\n<h4>Series Head-to-Head: Panthers 2-2 Maple Leafs<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Time: <\/strong>7\u00a0p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV:<\/strong> ESPN, TVAS, Sportsnet, CBC<\/p>\n<p>This series between the Panthers and the Maple Leafs is now a best-of-three. In today&#8217;s NHL predictions, we look at an <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.thescore.com\/nhl\/events\/30959\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">important Game 5<\/a> that could tell the tale of this series. Toronto <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/05\/09\/toronto-maple-leafs-lead-panthers-2-0-powered-nhl-veteran-john-tavares-stats\/\" target=\"_self\">jumped out to a 2-0 series lead<\/a>, but Florida has evened up the series with the last two games in being in Sunrise.<\/p>\n<p>Momentum has shifted over to the Cats, but they have yet to beat the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. As Doc Emrick said it will be a &#8220;pivotal Game 5&#8221; between the two teams.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a look at the stats and storylines heading into this Game in our NHL predictions.<\/p>\n<h4>The Panthers Story<\/h4>\n<p>Florida has seemingly turned things around after dropping the first two games in Canada&#8217;s largest city. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/bobrose01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a> has looked like his old self in goal after some shaky starts in the Six. The Panthers are starting to look like the defending <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/06\/25\/2024-nhl-stanley-cup-final-series-review\/\" target=\"_self\">Stanley Cup Champions.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>One thing that Florida has is plenty of scoring depth. The Panthers have eight different players tied for the team-lead in points with eight. That scoring depth can be a problem for the Leafs&#8217; defence, as it can&#8217;t focus on one single line. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/bennesa01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sam Bennett<\/a> is the team&#8217;s leader in goals for Florida so far with five.<\/p>\n<h4>The Maple Leafs Story<\/h4>\n<p>The main question is who will be in goal for the Maple Leafs. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/w\/wolljo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joseph Woll<\/a> has done his best, but Toronto fans are hoping to see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/stolaan01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Stolarz<\/a> return at some point in the series. Stolarz <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/nhl\/article\/maple-leafs-anthony-stolarz-back-on-ice-ahead-of-practice\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">did return to the ice<\/a> on Tuesday, but his timeline to return to the crease is still unknown.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nylanwi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">William Nylander<\/a> leads the team in goals (6) and points (15) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/marnemi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mitch Marner<\/a> is tops in assists with 10. However, the main concern is getting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/matthau01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Auston Matthews<\/a> going. The American needs to get on track if Toronto wants to regain the series-lead.<\/p>\n<h3>Prediction<\/h3>\n<p>Home ice is important, but the momentum is clearly on Florida&#8217;s side. The Panthers have the scoring depth and have sorted things out on the defensive end.<\/p>\n<p>Toronto will need Matthews and others to step up if they want to wrest control in this series. There&#8217;s a lot of emotion in this series and the Panthers should continue their roll.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: Panthers win 4-2.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Prop Bets of the Night<\/h3>\n<p>We close out NHL predictions with some prop bets of the night. The over\/under for this matchup is 5.5 and we think the under is the right play in this one.<\/p>\n<p>For individual props, take <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/reinhsa01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sam Reinhart<\/a> to score a goal in this one for Florida. As for Toronto, go with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/tavarjo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Tavares<\/a> to get an assist in this one in front of his hometown fans.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo by: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><b>Please play responsibly. Check your local rules and age restrictions. Some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Have a gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to another NHL Predictions. Each day our writers here at\u00a0Last Word on Hockey\u00a0look at the games and give in-depth analysis. Our team breaks down the key matchups, storylines, and stats, then makes predictions based on how they might play out. For this edition, we will look at the\u00a0Florida Panthers\u00a0taking on the\u00a0Toronto Maple Leafs [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":468604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4547,4548,4524,18],"tags":[8133,228,6255,352,6062],"class_list":["post-468603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-panthers","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-nhl-predictions","category-leafs","tag-2025-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-auston-matthews","tag-florida-panthers-predictions","tag-sergei-bobrovsky","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-predictions"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468603"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468606,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468603\/revisions\/468606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}