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The Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers square off in a do-or-die Game 7 with a berth in the Eastern Conference final on the line.
Follow our writers from Scotiabank Arena for sights, sounds, analysis and updates from puck drop to the final buzzer.
GO FURTHER
How the Maple Leafs forced Game 7 — and how they can win it
P1 15:00 – Panthers 0, Maple Leafs 0
It's been all Florida these first five minutes. The Panthers have spent a majority of the time in the offensive zone. But Toronto weathering the storm.
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P1 18:11 – Panthers 0, Maple Leafs 0
A fast start to Game 7 for Florida. The Panthers have three shots on goal and have been spent the entire first minute in Toronto's zone.
Can the Maple Leafs weather the storm?
P1 20:00 – Panthers 0, Maple Leafs 0
The puck is dropped. Game 7 is underway.
GOOD EVENING, hockey fans!
The players step onto the ice to Enter Sandman. One last game to decide this second-round series.
Panthers versus Maple Leafs from Toronto. Winner goes to the Eastern Conference final.
Moments away from puck drop. Enjoy!
No. 1 lines match up to begin Game 7: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and Matthew Knies versus Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, and the returning Evan Rodrigues.
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This is Brad Marchand's 13th career Game 7, the most of any active NHL player. He is 4-0 against the Leafs in Game 7s.
Will he improve to 5-0 tonight? Marchand had the OT winner in Game 3.
Justin Bieber, Canadian pop star and Toronto Maple Leafs superfan, is in the building at Scotiabank Arena tonight. His wife Hailey Bieber is also in attendance.
See Bieber's Instagram post below.
There was a lot of confidence oozing from the Panthers dressing room on Sunday morning. The last Game 7 this group played ended with them parading the Stanley Cup around last June. Matthew Tkachuk says Florida is "built" for Game 7 success and says he likes coming into a hostile environment like the one he's expecting at Scotiabank Arena tonight:
“As a road team, you just come in here and you don’t have to worry about anything. You don’t have to worry about tickets, you don’t have to worry about people coming in. You just worry about playing the spoiler. That’s all we’ve got to worry about.”
Anthony Stolarz hasn’t played or practiced with the Leafs since he was injured in Game 1 on May 5 — just under two weeks ago.
A surprise development for the Leafs in warmups: Anthony Stolarz is on the ice and it looks like he'll serve as Joseph Woll's backup. Stolarz hasn't dressed since leaving Game 1 with an apparent head injury and didn't take the morning skate this morning.
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Below are the odds for Game 7, presented by BetMGM.
Of our panel of The Athletic NHL writers, no team tonight has the edge in Game 7. Three like the Maple Leafs and three like the Panthers.
Read more below.
Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice is 5-0 in his career in Game 7s. The last one he coached in was during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where the Panthers dethroned the Presidents' Trophy winner Boston Bruins 4-3 in overtime.
Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube is 2-1 in his career as a coach in Game 7s. His most notable was Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins, which he won as coach of the St. Louis Blues.
Below are the Game 7 stats for the "Core Four" Maple Leafs forwards:
Are you a Leafs fan and a believer in the Drake Curse? If so, look away: the famed Toronto rapper posted a screenshot today on Instagram of his $1 million wager on the Leafs to win Game 7.
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In each of their last four Game 7s (2019, 2021, 2022, 2024) the Leafs have scored one goal. Maybe that's good enough to win tonight, but likely it will take more. Ideally, it's the stars doing what they (with the exception of William Nylander) haven't done in the past and that's delivering on the biggest stage. It doesn't necessarily have to be the stars or the stars alone though. Maybe the Leafs can find another unlikely hero or two — i.e., Max Domi and Simon Benoit in the first round — the first goal of the postseason for Bobby McMann or Scott Laughton, say.
They need to find the goals wherever they can get them at this point.
Yes, the idea of the Leafs staying disciplined might not feel as dramatic for a Game 7 as, say, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner showing up when it matters. But if we’re treating Game 7 as a hockey game and not a reflection of whether the Shanaplan was a success, it’s worth remembering: winning the special-teams battle could determine the outcome.
The Leafs have lacked discipline at times through this series. And they were at risk of letting things get away from them with two penalties in the first period of Game 6. Florida ended up with four power plays to Toronto’s two. If the Leafs’ penalty kill and entire defensive structure had not been so strong — they deserve credit in that regard — the game and the series could have been over.
There was a scrum near the goal in Game 6 that saw Max Domi, of all people, back off and not get engage.
In Toronto, in front of what could be a tense crowd, you know the Panthers are going to do Panthers things and try to engage the Leafs physically once again. Being smart, staying out of the penalty box and not giving the Panthers’ power play a chance to get hot could go a long way.
William Nylander has gone cold after a strong start to the series, held without a point in Games 4, 5, and 6.
He was particularly quiet in the Leafs’ Game 6 win, finishing with just a single shot in less than 16 minutes. He wasn’t skating with his usual verve. Yet, of the big four Leaf stars, Nylander has been the one to come through in the biggest spots. He scored twice and added an assist when the Leafs iced the Senators in Game 6 of the first round and last spring, he was the only Leaf to score in Game 7 against the Bruins. (He was also the only Leaf to score in Game 6.)
In five career Game 7s, Nylander has scored twice — more than Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares combined (one). If there’s one Leaf who’s likeliest to rise up tonight it’s Nylander.
