Toronto Maple Leafs Shut Down Florida Panthers to Force Game 7
The Florida Panthers had a chance to clinch their series against the Toronto Maple Leafs on home ice, but watched it slip away with some sloppy offensive play.
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers had a chance to put their foot on the throat of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 6, and they let it slip away.
After taking a 3-2 series lead behind three consecutive victories — two in very dominant fashion played on their terms — the Panthers watched the Maple Leafs beat them at their own game.
Toronto stymied Florida’s offensive attack, burrowing in and blocking 31 shots, and hung on to win 2-0 on Friday night behind a third-period goal from Auston Matthews — his first goal of the series.
After being written off following their disastrous 6-1 loss in Game 5, the Maple Leafs put their big boy pants on and played some playoff hockey — and the Panthers were unprepared for it.
“I mean, you guys saw it,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “They took care of one on our home ice and they played really well. They did what they did earlier in the series, blocking shots.”
For the first time in the past three games, Florida was not able to play through Toronto.
The Panthers poured on shot attempts — specifically in the second and third periods — and the Maple Leafs caved in and held them to the outside. They could not get bodies to the front of the net as they had in the past, and when they tried playing around the Leafs, they would either make one too many passes or flub a key pass that could have led to a scoring chance.
“I think we were late getting the puck off our stick,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I thought we were waving the guys a lot but didn’t want to pull a trigger on a few. Just made people nervous.”
On their four power play opportunities, it was more of the same. Florida only had one shot on goal and four total scoring chances in 7:32 of power play time. That included a man advantage with a chance to tie the game midway through the third period where they generated zippo.
No scoring chances, no shots — nothing but flubbed passes and failed zone entires that eventually opened the door for Max Pacioretty to score a second Toronto goal less than three minutes after it expired.
”We were late getting it off our stick or maybe looking for something slightly better,” coach Paul Maurice reiterated, mentioning how the power play mirrored the team’s 5-on-5 game on Friday night.
“They did a good job with [their penalty kill,] for sure. Our entries are usually a little cleaner than were tonight because we got hung up at the line quite a bit. But they were good. We got to be better.”
At the end of the day, it was Matthews who took advantage of a mistake on the other end — an ill-advised breakout pass from Gustav Forsling — and he was the one who was able to rise to the occasion and put Toronto ahead 6:20 into the third period.
After that, there was no answer from the Panthers — and they will have to find one quickly as they prepare for a Game 7 in Toronto on Sunday night.
“I think we got to start looking for more sticks,” Tkachuk said. “We have some great scorers and great shooters here, but they have some great defense and obviously a great goalie right now.
“So, not many times in this part of the season are you going to beat some guys clean from the outside. You got to get traffic in front, but we have to start looking for more sticks, looking for more redirects and plays around the net but we got to be there for that to happen.”
