The Maple Leafs held an optional skate on Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena.

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When the Leafs aren't playing, Chris Tanev is usually spending his nights watching hockey.

"I enjoy watching games," the 35-year-old defenceman said. "When I was mid, late 20s maybe, I was like, 'I’m too cool to watch games,' but now I watch a ton. Now you’re always seeing what other teams are doing and how they’re playing and sort of know what to expect."

Tanev was watching when the Florida Panthers give up a late goal against the Montreal Canadiens before losing in overtime on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. The Panthers fell to 4-5-1 since top-pair defenceman Aaron Ekblad was suspended for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program on March 10. Florida is also missing winger Matthew Tkachuk and defenceman Dmitry Kulikov due to injury. Centre Nico Sturm got hurt in Tuesday's game.

But Tanev isn't buying the idea that the defending champs are on the ropes entering Wednesday's big showdown against the Leafs in Toronto.

"They always play the right way," the Toronto native noted. "There’s zero cheat in their game. They’re going to give you honest, 100 per cent effort every time, so you need to expect that and be ready for that."

The Panthers allowed just four shots to the Canadiens in the third period on Tuesday night even though Montreal trailed from the start of the frame.

"A tight-checking game," observed Tanev. "That’s sort of what the game is going to be like tonight."

"We've got to just be patient with our game and not get frustrated," stressed Leafs coach Craig Berube. "They check well. It’s not a lot of room out there, so we can't get impatient with the puck, and we can't get frustrated. We just got to stick with it."

The first-place Leafs lead the third-place Panthers by two points in the Atlantic Division standings. The Tampa Bay Lightning, who don't play on Wednesday, are one point behind the Leafs. All three teams all have eight games remaining.

The Panthers won both previous games against the Leafs this season. In fact, Florida's only regulation win in........

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