Matthews Ends Goal Drought to Keep Leafs’ Hopes Alive
May 16, 2025, 10:59 PM ET
SUNRISE, Fla. — Auston Matthews hadn’t scored against Florida in more than a year. He ended the drought — and might have also saved Toronto’s season.
In a thrilling Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series, Matthews got his first goal of the series to break a scoreless tie in the third period. Joseph Woll was a wall in the net, stopping 22 shots, and the Toronto Maple Leafs kept their season alive by beating the Florida Panthers 2-0 on Friday night.
“Just a gutsy, gutsy win,” Matthews said, capturing the essence of a game that was as much about heart as it was about skill.
With Game 7 looming on Sunday night in Toronto, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The winner will face Carolina in the East final, a tantalizing prospect for both teams.
“We played a simple game tonight,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. Simple, but effective. Toronto’s strategy was clear: block shots and kill penalties. They blocked 31 shots and successfully killed off all four Florida power plays, a testament to their defensive discipline.
Max Pacioretty added an insurance goal for the Maple Leafs, who have shown resilience with a 4-2 record when facing elimination since the start of the 2023 playoffs.
On the other side, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 15 shots for the Panthers, the defending Stanley Cup champions. However, their record in potential closeout games is a puzzling 8-7 over the past three postseasons.
“You win or you learn,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “Tonight, we learned.”
Florida coach Paul Maurice, with a perfect 5-0 record in Game 7s, including the final game of last season’s Stanley Cup Final, remains confident. The Panthers are 3-1 all time in the ultimate game of a series — 2-0 on the road — while the Maple Leafs have lost each of their past six Game 7s. Of those, four were against Boston and now-Panthers forward Brad Marchand.
“We’re not going to show any video of those Game 7s,” Maurice said. “We’ll look at our game tonight and see where we can get better.”
Friday’s game was the 68th of this season’s playoffs — and only the second that was 0-0 after 40 minutes. The other was Wednesday night, when Edmonton eliminated Vegas with a 1-0 victory in overtime in Game 5 of that Western Conference semifinal series.
Toronto had been prolific in the early games of the series, scoring five goals in Game 1, four in Game 2, and three by the early goings of the second period of Game 3. But then, the goals dried up — until Matthews broke through.
The Toronto captain was 0-for-31 on shots against Florida this season, including the regular season. Bobrovsky had stopped 85 of the last 86 shot attempts he had seen in the series. And the Maple Leafs hadn’t had the lead in basically the equivalent of 3½ games — 216 minutes, 30 seconds, to be precise.
But when a pass got away from Florida’s Aaron Ekblad, Matthews had a slight opening — and that was all he needed. A low shot skittered along the ice and beat Bobrovsky for a 1-0 lead with 13:40 left.
“It’s a big win, from top to bottom,” Matthews said. “We earned that.”
- Toronto’s defensive strategy: 31 blocked shots and four successful penalty kills.
- Matthews’ breakthrough: First goal against Florida in over a year.
- Game 7 history: Panthers 3-1 all time, Leafs have lost last six.
As the series heads back to Toronto for the decisive Game 7, fans on both sides are bracing for what promises to be an epic showdown. Will the Leafs finally break their Game 7 curse, or will the Panthers continue their road success in ultimate games? Only time will tell.
Originally Written by: ESPN.com
