Panthers Crush Maple Leafs in Game 7 and Advance to Conference Finals
A second explosive period, with three crucial goals, made the difference in a tense encounter, silencing the fans at Scotiabank Arena and catapulting the Florida Panthers to a resounding victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs with a score of 6-1 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinal. This triumph secures their place in the conference final.
Despite not being the most common names on the Florida scoring sheet, Seth Jones, Anton Lundell, and Jonah Gadjovich combined to score those three decisive goals. This gave the Stanley Cup champion Panthers a 3-0 lead before entering the third period, allowing them to control the game and seal their passage to the Eastern Conference Finals for the third consecutive season. In the next round, Florida will face the Carolina Hurricanes, starting on Tuesday.
The Maple Leafs, coming off a 2-0 victory in Game 6 in Sunrise, Florida, failed to find the space and time needed to deploy their game in the Panthers’ zone. With only 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Toronto had barely managed 14 shots on goal, while the home crowd expressed their frustration.
Eetu Luostarinen and Sam Reinhart contributed additional goals for Florida in the third period, extending the lead to 5-1, after Toronto’s Max Domi scored a hopeful goal at 2:07 of the final period. Florida’s Brad Marchand closed the scoring with an empty-net goal.
Goaltender Joseph Woll, who had managed to keep his net empty in the previous game in Sunrise, struggled at home, showing signs of disarray in several of Florida’s goals. Anthony Stolarz, Toronto’s regular starting goaltender, who had been out of action since Game 1 due to an undisclosed injury, was active and on the bench as Toronto’s backup for Game 7, but was not called upon to play.
At the other end of the rink, Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky showed greater solidity, allowing only Domi’s goal, achieved with a wrist shot. Bobrovsky, who has been the Panthers’ starting goalie in every postseason game this season, played his first Game 7 since leading the Panthers to the Stanley Cup last June with a victory over the Edmonton Oilers in the final game of the series.
The game was stopped in the second period, just before Florida’s scoring streak, after referee Chris Rooney, considered one of the best in the NHL, suffered a bleeding wound and had to retire. The incident occurred when a hockey stick accidentally hit his face.
The play occurred 13 seconds into the second period, when Florida’s Niko Mikkola was battling for the puck and his stick hit Rooney in the face. Rooney left the ice with assistance and with a towel covering a large part of his face, being taken to the locker room for evaluation and treatment.
The NHL has reserve referees in the playoff games, and Garrett Rank took over as one of the two referees after Rooney’s injury, joining a team that also included referee Jean Hebert and linesmen Devin Berg and Jonny Murray.
