Cote: Game 7 magic in Toronto has Florida Panthers looking Stanley Cup-strong in East finals | Opinion
Hockey players and coaches like to rhapsodize about Game 7s as the best thing on the sporting Earth. They may be right.
“You wanna win [a series] in four games, yes, 100 percent ,” as Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice put it. “But Game 7s are the ones you’ll remember. No [kid ever pretending] in the backyard said, ‘Hey, it’s Game 3!’ It’s the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, always. Game 7s are completely different than any other game. It’s the best part of hockey.”
Sunday marked Panther Brad Marchand’s 13th career Game 7, now including 5-0 perfection vs. the Maple Leafs.
“These are the ones you live for,” he said after Sunday’s morning skate in Toronto. “It’s almost like [all season] you’re practicing for this moment.”
The Panthers owned that moment, and the night, on Sunday in Toronto.
Game 7s are the ones you will always remember if you win, and try and fail to forget if you lose.
Panthers 6, Maple Leafs 1.
This Game 7 sends Florida onto the NHL Eastern Conference finals vs. the Carolina Hurricanes, now four wins away from its third straight Stanley Cup Final and for a shot at a second straight championship.
It sends the other team into its offseason. They are the Toronto Maple Leave — out of the playoffs too soon once again. The storied franchise has not reached the East finals since 2002, and that skid continues.
Toronto was skating on a sheet of ice made of its own tears as Sunday marked an eighth straight Game 7 loss for the Leafs. It was Florida’s third straight Game 7 win on the road, and lifted Maurice to 6-0 all time in the ultimate game.
“This team is built for Game 7,” said Matthew Tkachuk.
Florida led Carolina 2-1 in the regular season series but the most recent meeting coming in early January renders that meaningless. So does this: Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen missed all of those games because of a blood clot but has been lights-out more recently including in this postseason.
Games 1 and 2 will be Tuesday and Thursday at Carolina, with Games 3 and 4 Saturday and Monday in Sunrise. The Panthers are small betting favorites to win the series despite again not having home-ice advantage.
What’s next is already upon us, but what just happened is worth savoring.
The Panthers beat the Maple Leafs, with decisive punctuation Sunday, by flexing a decided depth advantage, scoring with their third and fourth lines, scoring with defensemen getting their share.
“You can feel the drive,”said Seth Jones. “It’s easy to be complacent especially after you won a Cup, but coming in you can feel the drive to win another one.”
Florida wins and advances despite Tkachuk going a ninth straight game without a goal, and with notable scorers such as Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett also quiet this series in terms of goals.
Leafs coach Craig Berube hinted at Florida owning Toronto mentally, says his team’s series loss was “between the ears.” Their home fans bid the season farewell by booing their team.
“The fans there beat the pressure into that team,” said Marchand.
The Panthers led 1-0, then 2-0, then 3-0 Sunday with a triple-play scores in a span of 6:24 that muted the stunned home crowd.
Jones opened the barrage, beating Leafs goaltender Joseph Wall off a perfect pass from Evan Rodrigues.
“The last three or four games [Jones] has been a difference maker,” Maurice said in-game.
Anton Lundell pocketed the second goal off a rebound — that Marchand line continuing to pay big dividends.
“There’s a Brad Marchand effect here,” Maurice said. “His incredible positive spirit. He is bordering on legendary status at this point. It’s his personality that I didn’t know. He’s just a wonderful human being.”
Jonah Gadjovich made it 3-0 on a play almost (but not) offsides.
Florida led 25-0 in shots in the first period (7-0 in shots on goal) before Toronto was able to uncork its first, but the Leafs had enough blocked shots and saves to stay scoreless at the first intermission.
It was reminiscent of Game 6, won by Toronto 2-0 in the Cats’ Sunrise rink. Panthers had 81 total shots but only 22 on target.
“That was the stat that jumped out,” said Maurice. “Maybe we need to have 71, or 61 [but more of them on goal].”
Florida heard its coach in that deciding second period.
Jones would score again for an apparent 4-0 score but his shot into the net was waved off for goalie interference.
Leaf Max Domi’s goal two minutes into the third period gave Toronto fans a whisp of hope, but it was fleeting.
Panther Eetu Luostarinen made it 4-1 just 47 seconds later as the home crowd sagged — Marchand again with a big hand in the scoring play. Luostarinen has 10 points this postseason, most in the NHL.
Sam Reinhart made it 5-1 on a goal off a faceoff as Leafs hopes withered.
“It was a great tight, defensive game,” said the excellent-as-usual Sergei Bobrovsky. “It was fun hockey.”
Said Lundell: “We don’t question Bob. He’s a wall. He’s a guy we trust.”
A Marchand open-netter with three minutes left twisted the knife in an emptying arena.
“We’re having fun, enjoying the moment, that’s all you can do,” Marchand said. “You don’t get a second chance at these opportunities.”
(The Canadian rapper Drake reportedly had a $1 million bet on Toronto Sunday, by the way. It marked his biggest loss since the Kendrick Lamar beef.)
This marks the continuation of the Panthers’ fourth straight exceptional season: The Presidents Trophyfor best season record in 2021-22, the Stanley Cup Final in ‘23, the Cup championship last season, now this for an encore.
Maurice tries to deflect credit, noting he inherited a strong team three season ago.
“I was the guy born on third base,” he said, not bragging that he’d hit a triple.
It’s true that general manager Bll Zito assembled the roster that has made Maurice’s job easier, including the late-season trades for Marchand and Jones that shone through again Sunday.
“It’s been fun” said Marchand. “The chemistry’s been great.”
The Panthers are big and fast and physical, balanced and deep; 20 different Cats scored at least one point in this series.
A repeat championship is in the crosshairs and gaining focus.
And Maurice does not give himself enough credit.
There should be plenty of that to go around for what the long-downtrodden Florida Panthers have become -- the best thing in South Florida sports -- as they head powerfully to a third straight East finals.
This story was originally published May 18, 2025 at 10:26 PM.
