Stanley Cup playoffs live updates: Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs, Game 7
The time has come.
Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs. Game 7.
The winner moves to the Eastern Conference final. The loser sees its season end in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Puck drop from Scotiabank Arena is at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on TNT.
Follow along throughout the game for live updates, news, analysis and commentary.
The Panthers are off to the Eastern Conference final
Florida’s quest to repeat as Stanley Cup champs is alive and well.
A 6-1 thrashing of the Maple Leafs cemented them in the Eastern Conference final for a third consecutive season.
Next up: The Carolina Hurricanes.
A full recap from the Game 7 win over Toronto is here.
And Florida quickly gets it back
Eetu Luostarinen gets the Panthers’ lead back up to three goals 47 seconds after Toronto’s goal.
It’s 4-1 Florida.
Toronto strikes early in third
Max Domi put the Maple Leafs on the board 2:07 into the third period with a wrist shot from up close.
It’s still 3-1 Florida.
A dominant second period
What a second period for the Panthers.
According to Natural Stat Trick, they led 39-13 in shot attempts, 17-5 in shots on goal, 16-3 in scoring chances and 6-0 in high-danger chances.
Of course, they had the three goals, too.
Now, they just need to lock it down in the third and another trip to the Eastern Conference final is theirs.
Another Panthers goal
Jonah Gadjovich. 3-0 Panthers.
Three goals in 6:24. That’s ... good.
Florida doubles its lead
Anton Lundell makes it 2-0 Panthers 7:18 into the second period when he scored from the slot off a rebound.
Panthers take the lead
Seth Jones gives the Panthers a 1-0 lead 3:15 into the second period. He was on a two-on-one rush with Sam Reinhart and took the shot himself.
Florida needed that.
Ref injured
Referee Chris Rooney has left the game after taking a high stick 13 seconds into the second period.
Trainers from both teams immediately came onto the ice to tend to him.
Garrett Rank is the new referee taking Rooney’s place.
Panthers’ scoring drought
The Panthers’ most recent goal in this series was 9:10 into the third period of Game 5. That’s a run of 90:50 of game action without a goal (the final 10:50 of Game 5, all of Game 6, first 20 minutes of Game 7).
Scoreless after one period
Florida and Toronto are tied 0-0 after 20 minutes.
The Panthers dominated the opening 10 minutes. The Maple Leafs dominated the closing 10 minutes. Neither found the back of the net.
Sergei Bobrovsky had to come up big during Toronto’s push, with the Maple Leafs logging seven high-danger chances.
Something else to note: Florida moved Aaron Ekblad to the top power play unit and dropped Carter Verhaeghe to the second.
Toronto upping pressure
The Maple Leafs finally got their first shot on goal 11:37 into the game, with Sergei Bobrovsky stopping William Nylander from up close.
Toronto had about a minute of somewhat steady pressure in the zone prior to that.
All Panthers early
At the first TV timeout, the Panthers have a 7 -0 lead in shots on goal and a whopping 21-0 edge in shot attempts. They have been living in the offensive zone through the first six-and-a-half minutes and generating nearly non-stop pressure.
They need to convert that into actual goals, though.
A couple lineup things
Evan Rodrigues is drawing into the Panthers’ lineup for Jesper Boqvist after missing the past two games with injury.
Meanwhile, goaltender Anthony Stolarz is on the ice for Toronto and appears to be backing up Joseph Woll.
Quick story on the Panthers lineup can be found here.
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.
▪ 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.
▪ Game 6 — Maple Leafs 2, Panthers 0: Auston Matthews broke open a scoreless tie in the third period and Florida couldn’t get anything past Joseph Woll as the Maple Leafs leveled the series to force the winner-take-all Game 7.
▪ Game 7: Tonight
Pregame reading
Need to catch up ahead of Game 7? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past few days.
▪ Setting the stage for Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs Game 7
▪ ‘Opportunity to make a name for ourselves again’: Panthers-Maple Leafs comes down to Game 7
▪ What’s it like to play in Game 7? Panthers, Maple Leafs talk ‘biggest game in hockey’
▪ Brad Marchand: ‘Big memories are created’ in Game 7s. He’s been through plenty of them
This story was originally published May 18, 2025 at 6:30 PM.
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