Panthers, Maple Leafs meet in round 2

SUNRISE, FLA. >> There was a time in Paul Maurice’s coaching career when he wanted his teams to immediately move on after a big win and start thinking about the next challenge. Not now.

He wanted the Florida Panthers to spend a little extra time savoring their upset of the Boston Bruins in one of the biggest NHL playoff shockers ever, figuring that will help get them ready for the next challenge. The Panthers start Round 2 of the playoffs in Toronto on Tuesday night, facing a Maple

Leafs team that ousted perennial power Tampa Bay.

“It’s two sides of the same coin,” Maurice said Monday from Boston, before the team flew to Toronto. “On the one half, that was as emotional a win as our franchise ever had. So, you either say you’re a little light in the tank, or you’re still flying on those fumes. You’re either coming out hot because you’re still rolling or you’re gassed. Either way, Game 1 gets played and Game 2 will have nothing to do with Game 1.”

Getting to Round 2 was super emotional for Florida. It also was for Toronto, where fans spilled into the streets, honking horns, blocking traffic and in one case — true story — smacking the backside of a horse amid the celebration. The smacker was arrested for public intoxication; the horse was unharmed.

Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews called the organization’s first playoff series victory since 2004 “step one of a long journey.”

“A monkey off the back for a lot of us that have been here for quite a long time,” Matthews said. “We know it only gets harder from here.”

The winner will go to the conference finals for the first time in years: Florida got there most recently in 1996, Toronto in 2002.

It’s weirdly fitting that Florida is headed back to Toronto. The Panthers got a win there in March that helped turn their season around and fueled their playoff push, prevailing 3-2 on an overtime goal from Brandon Montour.

They’re 10-4-1 in their last 15 games, starting with that Toronto win, and overcame a 3-1 deficit against the Bruins.

“I’m kind of speechless in the sense of where we’re at now,” Montour said. “But we have all the confidence to keep going.”