2 weeks ago
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Associated Press
May 16, 2025, 10:59 PM ET
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Auston Matthews got his archetypal extremity of the bid to interruption a scoreless necktie successful the 3rd period, Joseph Woll stopped 21 shots and the Toronto Maple Leafs kept their play live by beating the Florida Panthers 2-0 successful Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal bid Friday night.
Game 7 is Sunday nighttime successful Toronto. The victor volition look Carolina successful the East final.
Max Pacioretty added an security extremity for the Maple Leafs, who improved to 4-2 erstwhile facing elimination since the commencement of the 2023 playoffs.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 15 shots for the Panthers, the defending Stanley Cup champions who oddly are lone 8-7 successful imaginable closeout games implicit the past 3 postseasons.
Florida manager Paul Maurice is 5-0 successful Game 7s, including the last crippled of past season's Stanley Cup Final. The Panthers are 3-1 successful the eventual crippled of a bid - 2-0 connected the roadworthy - portion the Maple Leafs person mislaid each of their past six Game 7s. Of those, 4 were against Boston and now-Panthers guardant Brad Marchand.
It was the 68th crippled of this season's playoffs - and lone the 2nd that was 0-0 aft 40 minutes. The different was Wednesday night, erstwhile Edmonton coiled up eliminating Vegas with a 1-0 triumph successful overtime successful Game 5 of that Western Conference semifinal series.
Toronto had 5 goals successful Game 1, 4 much successful Game 2 and had 3 by the aboriginal goings of the 2nd play of Game 3. Add it up, and that was 12 successful fundamentally the archetypal 7 periods of the series.
From there, Toronto had managed fundamentally thing - until Matthews broke through.
The Toronto skipper was 0 for 31 connected shots against Florida this season, including the regular season. Bobrovsky had stopped 85 of the past 86 changeable attempts helium had seen successful the series. And the Maple Leafs hadn't had the pb successful fundamentally the equivalent of 3 1/2 games - 216 minutes, 30 seconds, to beryllium precise.
But erstwhile a walk got distant from Florida's Aaron Ekblad, Matthews had a flimsy opening - and that was each helium needed. A debased changeable skittered on the crystal and bushed Bobrovsky for a 1-0 pb with 13:40 left.
