TORONTO -- The second period had just ended Thursday when Kyle Dubas stormed out of the Toronto Maple Leafs' managerial box and slammed the door behind him in a burst of frustration.
He wasn't the only one who felt that way.
Sheldon Keefe was equally perturbed after the Maple Leafs lost 3-2 to the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Scotiabank Arena. Toronto trails 2-0 in the best-of-7 series that shifts to FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, for Game 3 on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, SN, TVAS).
The reality of the situation is that both Dubas, the general manager, and Keefe, the coach, understand the Maple Leafs' Stanley Cup dreams just became that much more difficult of a journey. Call it an opportunity lost.
So, after losing the first two games of this series at home, a season of hope, promise and optimism may have been erased by a disastrous 66-second span to start the second period.
With the Maple Leafs leading 2-1 coming out of the intermission, a series of self-inflicted hiccups allowed Panthers center Aleksander Barkov to tie the game 19 seconds into the second before forward Gustav Forsling put Florida ahead 3-2 just 47 seconds after that.
When it was all over, Keefe looked disheartened, to say the least, when asked what happened in the period's early moments.
"Disappointing, frankly," he said. "We didn't make those mistakes one time in the last series."
A series Toronto won in six games against the Tampa Bay Lightning for its first playoff series win since 2004.
Overcoming that hurdle was supposed to be the mental boost the team needed. No longer would it be haunted by past failures.
Except now, the Maple Leafs must deal with a new horror, all 66 seconds of it.
Of most concern: The architects of Toronto's demise included forwards William Nylander, Mitchell Marner and Auston Matthews, the core forwards who suffered six consecutive series losses in six years before helping to defeat Tampa Bay in the first round.
Nylander, having blown a tire near the Maple Leafs blue line, was lying helplessly on the ice when Barkov unleashed a snap shot past Ilya Samsonov to tie the game.
Less than a minute later, Marner made an ill-fated pass to Matthews at the Toronto blue line. The Maple Leafs forward was subsequently stripped of the puck and, seconds later, Forsling converted a perfect Matthew Tkachuk cross-ice feed to put the Panthers up for good.
For their part, the Maple Leafs pushed for the rest of the game. John Tavares, their captain, hit the post twice in the second period. Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves in the final 40 minutes, many of the spectacular variety.
So, when all was said and done, it was those 66 ill-fated seconds that doomed the Maple Leafs in Game 2 and, in reality, maybe the series.
"That's why it's baffling," Keefe said.
It was as if the coach was looking for answers that weren't there.
Tavares didn't have any either.
"We obviously had a couple of mistakes," Tavares said of the chaotic start to the second. "We obviously need to do a better job of taking care of the puck, making sure we start the period the right way.
"Obviously, it put us in a tough spot. It's something we have to be better with."
Perhaps the most revealing response to the loss came from Samsonov, who is consistently refreshing with his candid answers, good or bad. He made 26 saves Thursday but was not happy with his performance or that of his team.
"Again, the result is bad for us," he said. "I think we all go back home and look in the mirror, yeah, and ask, 'What more can I do on the ice for the team to win?' For everybody."
Now, the task at hand becomes that much harder: Win four of the next five games or go home.
"It's a big opportunity for us, this time, where we need to show people we're a really good team, how hard we work, how we come back, 2-0, 3-0, it doesn't matter. We need to show people," Samsonov said.
While the Maple Leafs were lamenting their lost opportunity, the Panthers were relieved to be heading home. Game 2 was their fifth game in nine nights dating to their seven-game elimination of the Boston Bruins in the first round. All five of those were win-or-go-home scenarios. Florida won all five.
On Thursday, the victory came due to a recipe of a torrid forecheck that Toronto once again couldn't handle, the spectacular play of Bobrovsky and, presumably, a stirring pep talk from Panthers coach Paul Maurice.
So, what did Maurice actually say that had his team come out of the first intermission with the gas pedal to the metal? Was it the type of epic speech that is the stuff of legends?
"It was nothing funny," he said. "I had my mic on from that 'Quest for the Cup' [documentary], so my language was no good."
Maurice's message was simple: "Let's stay in the fight."
His team did exactly that and is going home holding a distinct advantage in the series.
To be fair, the Maple Leafs certainly aren't going to go away. They are a perfect 3-0 on the road this postseason, each of those wins coming in overtime in the hostile environment that is Amalie Arena in Tampa. Toronto won four of the final five games in that series.
Now it has to do it again. Easier said than done.
"We've all got to self-reflect here," Maple Leafs forward Ryan O'Reilly said. "The focus is the next game. We win the next game [and] we take it from there."
That is the most logical path Toronto must take. Because after losing the first two games at home, it's almost run out of wriggle room.
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