TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs are no strangers to a playoff series comeback.

Toronto trailed Tampa 1-0 in their Eastern Conference first-round matchup and bounced back to send the Lightning home.

Now the Leafs are in a similar second-round spot against the Florida Panthers. Toronto dropped Game 1 on Tuesday 4-2, putting them behind the eight ball to even the series at home in Thursday's Game 2. What might have felt intimidating before is less so now for the Leafs, given their recent success managing adversity.

"You'd like to be up 1-0," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said Thursday morning. "But you have been through [falling behind], and you have confidence with that. The mindset and confidence that comes from having found our way back, [knowing] you need to get the split here at home and get on the road and do your job on the road and all those things certainly give you confidence."

The key for Toronto on Thursday will be channeling what they've learned and applying it to a Florida team that's even more tested. The Panthers slipped into the playoffs as the Eastern Conference's eighth seed, took down the President's Trophy winning Boston Bruins in the first round and then punched their way past Toronto to take their first true series lead of the postseason.

How the Leafs overcame their deficit against the Lightning was one challenge. Doing it again on Thursday will require a new recipe catered toward how the Panthers got Toronto into trouble. The Leafs power play went 0-for-4 in Game 1, a momentum-killing stat that admittedly caused the Leafs to deflate in the first period -- while the Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Toronto rallied to tie the score 2-2 but then too many mistakes -- mostly self-inflicted -- capsized hopes of further recovery.

And that wasn't all. Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk made life miserable for Toronto, leveling a game-high nine hits and notching three assists. He also drew a critical penalty in the third period that set up Brandon Montour's insurance goal.

The Panthers aren't playing like underdogs. Toronto's response to Florida's opening salvo could be a series-defining moment.

"You can't just lean on [past experience]; you can't just expect [a win] is going to happen," Keefe said. "You have to prepare differently in the sense that it's a different opponent, different adjustments and discuss different things and focus on different areas. When you get into Round 2, the other team on the other side, they've done all sorts of different things and done really well. So, the challenge becomes greater in that regard. We're certainly not settling for the fact that because it's happened before it's going to happen again. We have to get out on the ice and make it happen."

One thing the Panthers won't admit to feeling is increased pressure to keep proving themselves. Florida forward Sam Reinhart insisted the Panthers are just "showing up and playing," not in a nonchalant way but perhaps more carefree than some of the top-tier teams -- like the Maple Leafs-- who were expected to be playoff powerhouses coming off a 111-point season.

Florida has been fighting for respect all season. Panthers' coach Paul Maurice compared where the team is now to a particular "brutal" stretch in January, with a banged-up roster and nine of 11 games on the road. It was a crucial crossroads for Florida. How it fared would foreshadow a later push into postseason contention.

"Our ability to fight through that [patch of games] would define our franchise for the next five years," Maurice said. "That's how we felt. I'd like to think that we're playing to a standard [each] game [now], and what we're trying to accomplish is to define something not just for this year but for the next five years. And then the Boston series in these playoffs, we had to develop a style of game that's sustainable and that's what we will hold ourselves to."

But after taking down the No. 1 seed Bruins, the Panthers are undeniable playoff performers. Regardless, the Panthers' mindset remains the same as when they set out on the journey: it's one game, one round at a time; no future promised beyond it.

"Some of the other pressures, like [asking], 'how far do you go?' This one is simple," Maurice said. "We're trying to get to Game 7 [intensity] in every series we can. That's what we're trying to do. This isn't a marathon for us. We're not here for two months, we're here for tonight. We haven't accepted the outside pressure of how far you have to go in your season to do well. We have a certain game we're trying to get to with each player. That's kind of it."