Panthers dismantle Leafs in Game 7, move onto third straight Eastern Conference final

The Toronto Maple Leafs lose to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 and fail to reach the eastern conference final. Kamil Karamali reports.

Auston Matthews saw too many passengers. Mitch Marner took his helmet off and screamed at his teammates to wake up.

Craig Berube couldn’t explain a second consecutive dismal home-ice performance, his players unable to meet the challenge of yet another big moment.

The Maple Leafs — in what’s become the annual tradition in hockey’s biggest market, along with jerseys thrown onto the Scotiabank Arena ice by a scarred fan base — are once again left to pick up the pieces.

An uncertain off-season now lies ahead following the Original Six franchise’s latest playoff flop.

Eetu Luostarinen and Brad Marchand each had a goal and two assists Sunday as the Florida Panthers throttled Toronto 6-1 in a dominant effort to take Game 7 and win the teams’ second-round series.

“Just weren’t on the same page,” a sombre Matthews, the Leafs first-year captain, said in front of a wall of cameras. “It’s very, very frustrating.”

“Sadness, obviously, depression,” Marner, a star winger who might have played his final game in blue and white, added when asked what he was feeling. “I don’t know, all of it.”

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 added two assists.

“We were very quick at closing when pucks were coming around the wall,” said Marchand, a Leaf killer in his Boston Bruins days who played in a Game 7 for the 13th time in his career and is 5-0 against Toronto.

“They weren’t able to get a whole lot going.”

Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves for Florida, which made a third straight Eastern Conference final and will face the Carolina Hurricanes for a spot in another title series. Game 1 goes Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C.

“The games were so tight,” said Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, who led his team past Toronto in five games in 2023 and is now 6-0 in Game 7s. “This is a much better team than we played two years ago.”

Max Domi replied for Toronto. Joseph Woll stopped 28 shots.

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.

“I just don’t think we had our best stuff in the most important game of the season,” Leaf defenceman Morgan Rielly said. “That’s unacceptable. That’s the result you get when that’s the case.”

Fan angst boiled over in the third period with the Panthers rolling as at least four jerseys were thrown over the glass.

“‘Passion’ is a significant word among this fan base, and it’s really special,” Leafs centre John Tavares said. “Feel their disappointment, it’s tough. Never want to see the jerseys on the ice, but we know we just didn’t play well enough.”

Toronto staved off elimination with a 2-0 road decision Friday, but was unable to match Florida’s desperation from puck drop in a winner-take-all finale.

“I don’t know,” Berube, the Leafs head coach in his first season, said when asked about another home-ice dud in the season’s biggest game. “I don’t have an answer.”

The Leafs, who have won just two series in 11 tries across the Matthews-Marner era, now pivot to a potentially turbulent summer. Marner is set to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, while Tavares is also on an expiring deal.

“It’s meant everything,” Marner said of playing for his hometown team. “They took maybe a risky pick on a small kid from Toronto. I’ve been forever grateful to be able to wear this Maple Leaf and be a part of the great legends here.

“Never taken a day for granted.”

Leafs president Brendan Shanahan — the unwavering supporter of the club’s core of talented forwards led by Matthews, Marner, Tavares and William Nylander — is also without a contract beyond this season.

“You guys will have your opinions, management will make their decisions,” Tavares said. “A very good team that’s done a lot of good things, just haven’t broken through.”

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 Sunday’s ugly opening period, but were no better in the second.

They paid a dear price.

Jones opened the scoring at 3:15 on a 2-on-1 of the second when the blueliner moved into the offensive zone and ripped his third goal of the playoffs. Toronto was still stuck in neutral when Lundell buried his fourth at 7:18.

The visitors made it three goals in 6:24 as Gadjovich swatted home his second at 9:39. The play looked close to offside, but the Leafs didn’t challenge.

During that stoppage, Berube lit into his players, while Marner’s verbal diatribe was also caught on camera.

The words had little effect.

Jones nearly made it 4-0 at 15:01, but the play was waved off for goaltender interference.

Electric at puck drop, the crowd started to show its disgust with boos as the clock wound down to the intermission.

Domi got one back for the Leafs at 2:07 of the third with his third, but Luostarinen redirected a Marchand shot 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 tossed the first jerseys on the ice — 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 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.

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.

It was as close as a core group that’s had plenty of chances to get over the hump would get.

“Never going to quit, never going to stop trying,” Tavares said. “We’d love another opportunity.”

After another dismal night added to a long list of similar results, that’s difficult to envision.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2025.