TORONTO — The Panthers are off to another Eastern Conference final.
The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, are once again left to pick up the pieces.
Eetu Luostarinen and Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists each as Florida throttled Toronto 6-1 in a dominant effort to take Game 7 and win the teams’ second-round playoff series Sunday.
Seth Jones, with a goal and an assist, Anton Lundell, Jonah Gadjovich and Sam Reinhart also scored for the defending Stanley Cup champions. Aleksander Barkov also had two assists.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves. Florida will play the Carolina Hurricanes for a spot in another title series. Game 1 goes Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C.
Max Domi replied for Toronto, which now heads into an uncertain off-season. Joseph Woll made 28 stops.
The Leafs led the Atlantic Division matchup 2-0 on the back of consecutive home victories before the Panthers won three straight to go up 3-2, including a 6-1 whitewash in Game 5 that looked a lot like Sunday.
Toronto staved off elimination with a 2-0 road decision Friday, but was unable to match Florida’s desperation from puck drop in the winner-take-all finale.
The Leafs, who have won just two series in 11 tries across the Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner era, now pivot to a potentially turbulent summer. Marner is set to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, while John Tavares is also on an expiring deal.
Team president Brendan Shanahan — the unwavering supporter of the franchise’s core of talented forwards led by Matthews, Marner, Tavares and William Nylander — is also without a contract beyond this season.
Toronto is now 0-7 in Game 7s, and 0-6 with Marner and Matthews dating back to 2018, in the NHL’s salary cap era.
The Leafs survived an ugly first period Sunday, but were no better in the second.
They paid a dear price.
Jones opened the scoring at 3:45 on a 2-on-1 after Barkov chipped the puck past Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly. The Florida blueliner moved into the offensive zone and looked off Woll before ripping his third goal of the playoffs upstairs.
Toronto was still stuck in neutral later in the period when Lundell buried his fourth at 7:18 when Woll couldn’t handle the initial shot.
The visitors made it three goals in 6:24 when Gadjovich swatted home his second at 9:39. The play looked close to offside, but the Leafs didn’t challenge.
During that stoppage in play, Toronto head coach Craig Berube lit into his players on the bench — perhaps the most animated he’s been during his first season at the helm — in hopes of getting his team going.
It had little effect as Jones nearly made it 4-0 at 15:01, but the play was waved off for goaltender interference.
The crowd at Scotiabank Arena was electric at puck drop, but showed its frustration with boos as the clock wound down.
Domi got one back for the Leafs at 2:07 of the third when he caught the Panthers on a line change and fired through Bobrovsky’s pads for his third to briefly give the Leafs hope.
But Luostarinen redirected a Marchand shot just 47 seconds later to restore the three-goal advantage with his third.
Reinhart made it 5-1 with his fourth at 9:24. Two fans in the disgruntled crowd tossed jerseys on the ice in disgust — a feature of that first 6-1 debacle and past Leafs failures — while others headed to the exits.
Florida pushed hard off the opening faceoff and didn’t let up. Woll was excellent in making a couple of huge stops with his team under water and barely able to touch the puck — shot attempts stood at a jaw-dropping 21-0 at the 6:33 mark of the first — before Toronto finally got moving inside a tension-filled rink.
Nylander had the Leafs’ first chance when he dangled through the Panthers’ defence before getting denied by Bobrovsky. Toronto’s fourth line then had a couple of terrific opportunities, but the Panthers goaltender denied both Scott Laughton and Steven Lorentz on breakaways.
SUBBING IN
Referee Chris Rooney took an accidental stick near his eye early in the first period and had to leave the game. He was replaced by backup official Garrett Rank.
WE GO AGAIN
Marchand appeared in his 13th career Game 7, the most among active players. He’s now tied with Scott Stevens and goaltender Patrick Roy, and one back of former Boston Bruins teammates Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara. Five of Marchand’s Game 7s — all victories — have come against Toronto.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2025.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
