NHL Reveals Interesting Playoff Scheduling Situation for Leafs-Panthers Series

It wasn't exactly how we all drew it up but the Toronto Maple Leafs slayed their first round demons after taking care of business against the Ottawa Senators in the form of a 4-2 victory in Game 6.

Now that they've moved past the Senators, the Maple Leafs will now shift their focus towards the Florida Panthers after they took down the Tampa Bay Lightning in just 5 games.

However what remains to be seen is when the series will begin because the NHL is waiting on the Western Conference to finish up their matchups. The Colorado Avalanche forced a Game 7 after a 7-4 victory over Dallas in Game 6 last night and the Winnipeg Jets and St.Louis Blues are set to face-off later tonight.

TSN's Pierre LeBrun also adds that because the Western Conference matchups are still to be decided, the NHL has 7 different schedule scenarios that have the Leafs hosting the Panthers on Saturday, Sunday, or even Monday.

While the date is unknown, the opponent is known, and the Leafs will be looking to exact revenge for their second round defeat two years ago when Florida handled their business in 5 games.

It's going to be their toughest battle yet with the Panthers white-hot and having several reinforcements back in the lineup in the form of Matthew Tkachuk and Brad Marchand. However, defenseman Aaron Ekblad will miss Game 1 as he continues to serve his 2-game suspension.

Sam Reinhart leads the way for Florida with 6 points and he is followed by another 5 players with 5 points apiece including Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, and Sam Bennett.

William Nylander led the way for the Maple Leafs with 9 points and he was followed up by Mitch Marner's 8 points and Auston Matthews' 7 points. To have a chance to advance to the third round, the Maple Leafs are going to need their star players to shine from start to finish but seeing how they came up big in Game 6 against Ottawa should serve as a confident boost.