Panthers cruise past Maple Leafs in Game 7, advance to Eastern Final
Brad Marchand and Eetu Luostarinen each had a goal and two assists for the Florida Panthers in a 6-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday.
“We have a ton of belief in the system that we play and the depth of our group and our experience in these moments,” Marchand said. “Going through it before, it’s invaluable experience when you go through moments like this and you’ve been through them before. And a lot of guys have won Cups. When you win a Cup and you play in some of the games this team played in last year, these are not high-pressure games.”
Seth Jones had a goal and an assist, Aleksander Barkov had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves for the Panthers, who are the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division.
Florida will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final, with Game 1 of that best-of-7 series set to be held at Lenovo Center on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC). The Panthers, who won the Stanley Cup last season, swept the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final in 2023.
“If anything, we know there’s a tremendous amount of work left. It certainly doesn’t get easier against a team like Carolina,” Panthers forward Sam Reinhart said. “We’ve seen them year in, year out, and we’ve had a series against them that was as tight as any just in the checking style of play. So, get back ready, recover, and get ready to go on Tuesday.”
Max Domi scored, and Joseph Woll made 28 saves for the Maple Leafs, who were the No. 1 seed from the Atlantic.
Toronto is 0-7 in its past seven Game 7s.
“We just didn’t handle the pressure tonight that they came with,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “It obviously wasn’t good enough.
“Coming off that Game 6 (a 2-0 win on Friday), come home for Game 7, you’re feeling really good, but they were the better team tonight, they were the more desperate team tonight, they were the more aggressive team tonight. … You win a Game 6, that’s great, you come home, you’ve got to have a level of desperation, determination, and I didn’t feel we had it.”
The Maple Leafs did not get a shot on goal until 11:34 of the first period, but Bobrovsky had to make two key saves shortly after to keep the game scoreless. He first stopped Scott Laughton on a partial breakaway at 14:32 before denying Steven Lorentz on another breakaway at 16:04.
“We don’t question ‘Bob,’” Panthers forward Anton Lundell said. “He does his thing and whatever he does, it works for him. He’s a wall. He’s our guy we trust, and it’s always fun to play in front of him. Obviously, we try to make it as easy as we can for him, but today he took some huge saves for us to keep us in the game in the first.”
Jones put the Panthers ahead 1-0 at 3:15 of the second period, shooting over Woll’s blocker from the right face-off dot on a rush.
“I was just trying to join the rush, be aggressive, and try to find an opening and put a puck to the net,” Jones said. “It was a tight game, but trying to make a difference offensively or defensively when I can.”
Lundell pushed it to 2-0 at 7:18. Woll could not control Marchand’s shot from the side boards after it was deflected by Luostarinen, resulting in a rebound that Lundell put in from the low slot.
Jonah Gadjovich extended the lead to 3-0 at 9:39. A.J. Greer got to his own rebound in the left circle and slid a pass across the slot to Gadjovich, who put it between Woll’s pads.
Florida outshot Toronto 18-5 in the second period.
“I don’t know how it really got away from us,” Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said. “I think just not on the same page in different areas of the game.
“I felt like we were ready to play, I felt like we were in a good mindset. I thought the first 10 minutes they came out strong, and the next 10 minutes I thought we controlled play, and then I just thought we had too many passengers throughout the rest of the game.”
Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner agreed with Matthews.
“That’s the right wording,” he said. “… Can’t have passengers in a Game 7. So, it just [stinks]. We all got to hold ourselves to a higher accountability, and we all need to be better.”
Domi cut it to 3-1 at 2:07 of the third period. He took a stretch pass from Bobby McMann at the blue line, skated to the left circle and scored five-hole on Bobrovsky.
Luostarinen responded 47 seconds later to make it 4-1. He redirected Marchand’s shot from the side boards inside the left post past Woll’s blocker.
“Huge goal,” Luostarinen said. “I think we talked about not sitting back, go for the next goal, and we got it. So, that was a good thing.”
Reinhart pushed it to 5-1 at 9:24. He skated into a face-off win by Barkov above the left circle and scored glove side through traffic.
Marchand shot into an empty net at 16:57 for the 6-1 final.
“If the core foundation of your game is the simplest things, it doesn’t matter how your hands feel, it doesn’t matter how your body feels, it doesn’t matter how well you execute. If it’s how comfortable you are in hard situations, then you have a chance,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “… We talk about Game 7 in training camp. We want to play a style of game that gives us a chance to win tonight. It gave us a chance to win tonight.”
