Can the Florida Panthers close this out?
After dropping the first two games of their Stanley Cup playoffs second-round series, the Panthers have rattled off three consecutive victories against the Toronto Maple Leafs and now have two chances to advance to the Eastern Conference final where the Carolina Hurricanes await.
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Game 6 is scheduled for an 8 p.m. start at Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena. The game will be broadcast on TNT, truTV and Max.
Follow along throughout the game for live updates, news, analysis and commentary.
And we have a game 7
Toronto wins 2-0, with Max Pacioretty adding an insurance goal late in the third.
Game 7 is Sunday in Toronto.
Toronto strikes
Auston Matthews scored his first goal of the series 6:20 into the third period, firing a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Sergei Bobrovsky.
1-0 Toronto.
Still scoreless through two periods
The Panthers dominated action in the middle frame — leading in shots on goal (12-6), shot attempts (33-11), scoring chances (13-4) and high-danger chances (5-3).
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Alas, it’s still a 0-0 game through 40 minutes.
Something’s gotta give at some point.
Panthers starting to hum
Florida is up 10-0 in shots on goal through the first half of the second period.
Also, Matthew Knies is hurt. Bobby McMann has replaced him on the Maple Leafs’ top line. Something to monitor moving forward.
First period thoughts
It was a pretty blah opening 20 minutes. Just nine total shots on goal. Nothing in net.
Despite the minimal action at the net, Florida still had 17 total shot attempts and eight scoring chances, but a lot obviously missed the net.
They’ll need to clean things up moving forward.
Toronto dominating possession early
With 2:10 left in the first period, the Maple Leafs have a 7-2 edge in shots on goal. They’ve had the Panthers on their heels early, but Florida has held strong, with Sergei Bobrovsky already making some big saves early.
Panthers come up empty on early power plays
Minimal action at the net through the first 13 minutes, although Florida did have two power plays — both of which Toronto killed off.
Toronto’s lineup
Forward lines
Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner
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Pontus Holmberg-John Tavares-William Nylander
Bobby McMann-Max Domi-Max Pacioretty
Steven Lorentz-Scott Laughton-Calle Jarnkrok
Defense pairs
Morgan Rielly-Brandon Carlo
Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit-Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Goaltenders
Joseph Woll
Matt Murray
Panthers pregame warmup lines
Everything remains the same for Florida in Game 6…
Forward lines
Jesper Boqvist-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer-Tomas Nosek-Jonah Gadjovich
Defense pairs
Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt-Dmitry Kulikov
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Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Series schedule
▪ Game 1 — Maple Leafs 5, Panthers 4: The Panthers nearly rallied from a three-goal deficit, getting to within one goal twice in the third, but ultimately couldn’t overcome their slow start in a series-opening loss. William Nylander scored twice for Toronto.
▪ Game 2 — Maple Leafs 4, Panthers 3: Florida blew a pair of two-goal leads and then fell behind for good 17 seconds after tying the game early in the third period to fall into an 0-2 hole in the series.
▪ Game 3 — Panthers 5, Maple Leafs 4 (OT): Brad Marchand scored with 4:33 left in overtime to give Florida its first win in the series. The Panthers overcame a pair of two-goal deficits by scoring three times in an 11-minute span in the second period.
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▪ Game 4 — Panthers 2, Maple Leafs 0: Sergei Bobrovsky posted his second shutout of the postseason and Florida got goals from Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett to even up the series.
▪ Game 5 — Panthers 6, Maple Leafs 1: Six different players scored goals — including first-timers this postseason in Dmitry Kulikov, Jesper Boqvist, Niko Mikkola and A.J. Greer — and Sergei Bobrovsky had a shutout intact until the final 66 seconds to give Florida its first lead of the series.
â–ª Game 6: Tonight
▪ Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, May 18, 7:30 p.m., TNT, Max, Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena
Pregame reading
Need to catch up ahead of Game 6? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past few days.
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▪ The Panthers did much more than ‘steal one’ from Maple Leafs with convincing Game 5 win
▪ Jesper Boqvist came up big for Panthers in Game 5 and ‘enjoyed every second of it’
▪ Scoring depth on full display in playoffs. ‘We can’t be a one-trick pony’
â–ª As tide of series shifts, Florida Panthers now in position to eliminate Maple Leafs
▪ As they try to clinch series, will Panthers’ ‘desire’ outmatch Toronto’s ‘desperation’?