Stanley Cup playoffs takeaways: Maple Leafs-Panthers is turning ugly

There was Florida's Dmitry Kulikov landing a high elbow to the back of Mitch Marner's head.

And then the game ended with a hit from behind by Toronto's Max Domi on Florida's Aleksander Barkov.

The question now becomes whether or not the league, and specifically the Department of Player Safety, wants to do anything about this and offer any suspensions for some of those hits. The Domi play on Barkov would certainly seem to be worthy of one, and you could make a pretty clear case for Kulikov's hit on Marner given the head contact. 

But the department is loathe to suspend players in the playoffs unless it is egregious, and the league seems to enjoy the intensity and chaos that these sort of plays provide. Both teams will certainly do their part to lobby for punishments to their opponents, but now, it is in the hands of the NHL to actually try and bring some sort of control to a series that is rapidly losing it. 

Connor Hellebuyck's road struggles continue

Connor Hellebuyck should have given the Winnipeg Jets some serious optimism with the way he played in their Game 2 win over the Dallas Stars. 

He was outstanding and looked like the goalie that put together another Vezina-caliber season by posting his first postseason shutout in four years. 

And then the series shifted to Dallas, and Hellebuyck had to play on the road. That was where his road struggles picked right back up in a 5-2 loss to the Stars.

Sunday's game was the sixth consecutive playoff road game dating back to last season where Hellebuyck allowed at least five goals. He has an .814 save percentage in those games, which is by far the worst mark for goalies with at least five road starts during that time.

This is a big problem because not only are the Jets going to need to win a road game at some point if they are going to win a Stanley Cup, they are going to have to win at least one road game to get through this series. 

Hellebuyck has simply not been consistent enough to help them do that, and he seems to be in his own head when it comes to playing on the road. 

Sunday's struggles started when he allowed a goal on the first shot he faced, and then he deflected the game-winning goal into his own net in the third period.

Mikko Rantanen is the Conn Smythe favorite right now

There might not be a close second in that race, either. 

With three points in the Stars' 5-2 win over Winnipeg on Sunday, he has now had a hand in 15 of the Stars' past 17 goals and is leading the playoffs with nine goals, nine assists and 18 total points in 10 games. 

This is why they traded for him and signed him to a long-term deal. He can be a series-changing player, and he has been doing that since these playoffs began.