Game 1 Between the Toronto Maple Leafs & Florida Panthers Receives Baffling Start Time

Just a couple of nights ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Ottawa Senators in Game 6 of their NHL Playoffs first round series.

This propelled the team to the second round where they will now face off against the Florida Panthers who just destroyed the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.

Overall, this is going to be an extremely hard test but if the Leafs manage to win, then they will instantly become favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

The series will officially begin on Monday which gives the team some time to rest. It also gives teams like the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Dallas Stars, Winnipeg Jets, and St. Louis Blues some time to play their Game 7s.

Interestingly enough, however, Monday night's Game 1 is going to be starting at a pretty bizarre time, all things considered.

According to David Alter of The Hockey News, instead of starting at 7 PM, the game will begin at 8 PM EST which means a late night for fans on the East Coast.

No matter what time the game starts at, the Maple Leafs need to come through with a big performance in this series.

They have not gone past the second round in the Auston Matthews era. Not to mention, the last time they played the Panthers in the playoffs, it was a five-game series.

Fans are expecting a long series and they are expecting something that will be truly competitive. That is what is best for everybody.

Hopefully, the Maple Leafs show up and head coach Craig Berube gets this team appropriately prepared for the task at hand.