Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates against the Panthers during the third period in Game 6 of the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amerant Bank Arena on May 16, in Sunrise, Fla.Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs are headed home with a chance to advance to the third round of the NHL playoffs with a victory in Game 7 on Sunday over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
Auston Matthews scored the winning goal on Friday in a 2-0 triumph in Sunrise, Fla., that extended Toronto’s season, which seemed to be on its deathbed after three straight losses.
It was the first goal of the series for Toronto’s captain and came on an assist from Mitch Marner with 13:40 remaining in the third period. Max Pacioretty added another, his third of the postseason, with 5:43 left.
Joseph Woll had 22 saves in the Maple Leafs’ net to record his first career playoff shutout. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 15 of 17 shots in the losing cause. Toronto killed off four Florida power plays.
Toronto never lost four straight games during the regular season. That might be a good omen.
The last time the club appeared in a conference final was 2002 when it fell to the Carolina Hurricanes. It hasn’t hoisted the championship trophy since 1967.
That was so long ago that the Beatles were still together and Lester B. Pearson was prime minister.
Sunday’s winner will advance to the Eastern Conference final against the Hurricanes, who eliminated the Washington Capitals in five games. If Winnipeg is beaten by Dallas in their second-round series, and Toronto upends Florida, the Maple Leafs would have home-ice advantage in the third round.
The Maple Leafs struggled at times in the first round before they beat the upstart Ottawa Senators in six contests. They won the first two games on home ice against Florida but then found themselves a loss away from another early exit from the postseason.
They have reached the playoffs for nine straight years but have only advanced beyond the first round twice. By winning the Atlantic Division they secured the home-ice advantage for at least two rounds and now get to play in front of their home crowd in the deciding game of the series.
The Panthers had not trailed for more than 200 minutes of game time. They are 5-1 all-time in series that have gone seven games.
Matthews entered the night without a goal in the first five games.
“Of course you want to score,” he said Friday after the club’s morning skate at the Panthers practice facility in Fort Lauderdale. “I’m getting opportunities. I haven’t capitalized on them but I am going to continue to shoot.
“I have to believe the next one is going in.”
Marner, whose struggles in the postseason are all too familiar, has all but disappeared against Florida. Quite possibly if the Maple Leafs get knocked out of this round he will not be back with the the team next year. His contract is about to expire.
“I’m not thinking of the past,” Marner said earlier in the day. “This is a totally new team and a totally new moment. We are excited for it.”
The Panthers were very loose after their morning skate but not overconfident.
“What happened on Wednesday night doesn’t matter,” their veteran irritant Brad Marchand said. He has 34 points in 34 playoff games versus Toronto. “It has no impact on the game tonight. If anything it is going to make the Maple Leafs hungrier to have a bounce-back game and prove a lot of people wrong.
“We have to bring our best game tonight. There is no question about that.”
In the two previous games Toronto was unable to solve Bobrovsky.
After an iffy start to the series he stopped 54 of 55 shots in Games 4 and 5.
“He’s one of the top one or two goalies in the world and has been for a long time,” Marchand said. He was shipped from Florida to Boston at the deadline. “Since coming here I have a much deeper appreciation for him, for the way he prepares every day and the incredible pro he is, the career he has had and who is every single day.
“He doesn’t have the success he has had by accident.”
Toronto started much better than it had in its 6-1 loss in Game 5. Then again, it could not have done much worse. The Maple Leafs killed off two penalties in the first period and put more pucks on the net but were again stymied by Bobrovsky.
They outshot the Panthers 7-2 over the first 20 minutes but it was tied 0-0 going into the first intermission. The pace increased in the second period and Florida started to push but Woll was up to the task.
Woll, who lost the three previous games in place of the injured Anthony Stolarz, gave up five goals on 25 shots in Game 5 but was on his toes this time.