Panthers rout the Maple Leafs 6-1 in Game 7 to advance to the Eastern Conference final
TORONTO (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves, Florida scored three times in a 6:24 span in the second period and the Panthers routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 in Game 7 on Sunday night to advance to the Eastern Conference final.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final, opening on the road Tuesday night.
Seth Jones, Anton Lundell and Jonah Gadjovich scored in the second-period burst and Eetu Luostarinen, Sam Reinhart and Brad Marchand — into an empty net — added goals in the third. Marchand, Luostarinen and Aleksander Barkov each had two assists.
“We were very quick at closing when pucks were coming around the wall,” said Marchand, a Maple Leaf killer in his Boston Bruins days who played in a Game 7 for the 13th time in his career and is 5-0 against Toronto. “They weren’t able to get a whole lot going.”
Max Domi scored for Toronto. Joseph Woll stopped 28 shots.
“I just don’t think we had our best stuff in the most important game of the season,” Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly said. “That’s unacceptable. That’s the result you get when that’s the case.”
Jones opened the scoring at 3:15 of the second, beating Woll to the far post with a shot from the right side. Lundell struck at 7:18, putting in a rebound. Gadjovich followed at 9:39 off another rebound.
Domi cut it to 3-1 at 2:07 of the third, beating Bobrovsky between the legs. Luostarinen countered 47 seconds later for Florida, and Reinhart scored at 9:24.
The Maple Leafs led the Atlantic Division matchup 2-0 on the back of consecutive home victories before the Panthers won three straight to go up 3-2, the last a 6-1 romp in Game 5 that looked a lot like Sunday. Toronto staved off elimination with a 2-0 road victory Friday.
“The games were so tight,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice, who led his team past Toronto in five games in 2023 and is 6-0 in Game 7s. “This is a much better team than we played two years ago.”
The Maple Leafs have won just two series in 11 tries across the Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner era, with Marner set to become an unrestricted free agent July 1.
“Just weren’t on the same page,” Matthews said. “It’s very, very frustrating.”
Added Marner: “Sadness, obviously, depression.”
Referee Chris Rooney left 13 seconds into the second period after Florida’s Niko Mikkola was jousting for the puck and his stick went into Rooney’s face. Garrett Rank took Rooney’s spot.
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