Setting the stage for Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs Game 7
The Stanley Cup playoffs second-round series between the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs has come down to a winner-take-all Game 7.
Puck drop from Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena is set for 7:30 p..m.
Here’s everything you need to know to set the stage for Sunday night.
How the series got to this point
Toronto, which won the Atlantic Division and beat the Ottawa Senators in the first round, took a 2-0 series lead with wins by scores of 5-4 in Game 1 and 4-3 in Game 2 in their home barn.
Florida, which advanced by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in Round 1, then leveled the series with a 5-4 overtime win in Game 3 and a 2-0 shutout in Game 4 at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers then took their first lead in the series with a 6-1 win in Toronto in Game 5 before the Maple Leafs leveled the series with a 2-0 win in Game 6.
Florida Panthers all-time in Game 7
This is the Panthers’ fifth Game 7 all-time. Florida is 3-1 all-time in a winner-take-all game in the playoffs, including 2-0 when that game is played on the road.
It’s the third consecutive postseason Florida is playing a Game 7. The Panthers beat the Boston Bruins on the road in the first round of the 2023 playoffs and the Edmonton Oilers at home in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
Toronto Maple Leafs all-time in Game 7
Sunday will be the Maple Leafs’ 28th all-time Game 7, which is the second-most by any team in NHL history behind only the Bruins (31 games). Toronto is 12-15 all-time in Game 7s, including a 7-3 mark at home although they have lost their past two Game 7s at their home arena (a 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round in 2022 and a 3-1 loss to Montreal in the first round in 2021).
In fact, the Maple Leafs haven’t won a Game 7 since 2004.
Paul Maurice’s perfect mark in Game 7s
Panthers coach Paul Maurice is a perfect 5-0 in Game 7s in his career, making him one of two head coaches in NHL history to win each of his first five career Game 7s. The other is current Dallas coach Peter DeBoer (9-0).
Maurice can become the fifth head coach with six Game 7 wins at any point, after DeBoer (9-0), Darryl Sutter (8-3), Pat Burns (6-3) and Scotty Bowman (6-3).
Player notables
▪ Panthers forward Brad Marchand on Sunday will appear in his 13th career Game 7, which will be the most among active players and make him the fifth player in NHL history with as many appearances. The others: defenseman Scott Stevens (13), goaltender Patrick Roy (13), forward Patrice Bergeron (14) and defenseman Zdeno Chara (14).
Marchand is 7-5 in Game 7s. This is his fifth time facing the Maple Leafs in a Game 7, after doing so four times — and winning all of them — with the Boston Bruins. He can become the first player in NHL history to defeat the same opponent in at least five winner-take-all games. The only other player with four such wins against one opponent is Red Kelly, who went 4-0 against Montreal in Game 7s with Detroit (3-0) and Toronto (1-0).
▪ Panthers Sergei Bobrovsky is 2-0 all-time in Game 7s, both of which have come in the past two postseasons.
He stopped 33 of 36 shots in Florida’s Game 7 overtime win over Boston in 2023 and 23 of 24 shots faced in Florida’s Stanley Cup championship-clinching win over Edmonton.
Overall NHL trends
Sunday’s game between the Panthers and Maple Leafs will be the 201st Game 7 in NHL playoff history. Some notables trends and themes from the first 200...
▪ The team that scores first is 150-50 (.750) in the 200 all-time Game 7s.
▪ Home teams own a 118-82 (.590) advantage in the 200 all-time Game 7s.
▪ 104 of the 200 all-time Game 7s (52.0 percent) have been decided by a one-goal margin, including six of the past seven.
▪ 50 Game 7s have required overtime (25.0 percent). Home teams are 27-23 (.540) in those contests.
▪ There have been 36 all-time shutouts in Game 7s, 24 by the home team and 12 by the road team.
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