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The Toronto Maple Leafs aim to force a Game 7 in their series against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, who can punch their ticket to a third straight Eastern Conference Final with a win tonight.
Follow live as our team of writers at The Athletic has you covered from puck drop through the final horn in tonight's win-or-go-home game for Toronto.
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Maple Leafs reflect on ugly Game 5 loss: ‘Everybody’s got to look in the mirror’
By Joshua Kloke and Chris Johnston
Jesper Boqvist entered the game without a playoff goal on his resume. He last scored in the regular season on Jan. 25.
So it was only fitting that Boqvist was among Florida’s unexpected offensive heroes after replacing the injured Evan Rodrigues in the lineup for Game 5.
He made it 3-0 midway through the second period, effectively ending any chance Toronto had of making things interesting.
It says something about the Panthers’ culture that head coach Paul Maurice was comfortable dropping him directly onto the left wing of the top line. And it says something that Boqvist managed to score such a surprising goal — against Toronto’s top line, no less.
Maurice effectively called it before the game when discussing why Boqvist was being called on to replace Rodrigues.
“He’s got some experience,” said Maurice. “When we bring guys in from the outside, they’ve had big impacts for us. They’ve been critical. I think a big part of that is they’re never really on the outside. They’re all part of the chirping and the practicing and all of the things that go on that feel like they’re a part of it.”
Among Florida’s other Game 5 scorers were three defensemen not known for putting the puck in the net: Aaron Ekblad, Dmitry Kulikov and Niko Mikkola.
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By Joshua Kloke and Chris Johnston
The Panthers started clawing their way back into this series when Bobrovsky turned into a brick wall.
He didn’t surrender a goal from the third period of Game 3 until there were 66 seconds left in Game 5 — a stretch lasting 143 minutes, 25 seconds.
Bobrovsky had to be sharp before this one got out of hand, stopping Nylander on a first-period breakaway before reaching back to deny Knies on Toronto’s first power play.
Making his stretch even more impressive is that Bobrovsky wasn’t at his best form when this series began. He allowed 13 goals in the first three games. But his teammates never lost faith in a man who was integral in their reaching consecutive Stanley Cup Finals.
“What was the word you just used?” defenseman Aaron Ekblad asked a reporter when questioned about Bobrovsky earlier in the series. “Legend. Yes. God-mode. That’s what we have come to love about ‘Bobby,’ not to mention he’s the greatest person on Earth, as well.”
Bobrovsky is one win away from securing his ninth series win since 2023.
By Joshua Kloke and Chris Johnston
There were glimpses of hope that manifested in rushes and energetic checks from William Nylander and Matthew Knies, respectively. Those two players looked capable of turning the game in the Leafs’ favor. But come the second period, just like the rest of the team, their energy completely dissipated.
And that’s the point: No Leaf showed any of the fight and emotion that’s necessary in a late-series game. It doesn’t matter if this is an intangible that’s impossible to quantify. At the very minimum, effort and belief from an Atlantic Division-winning team are expected.
As the second period dragged on, Toronto’s deficit growing from 1-0 to 4-0, it was clear no Leaf had the moxie to make that happen.
The Leafs — again, all of them — deserved the boos that came their way. Yes, Woll should not have allowed the fourth goal. But pinning anything on him alone is futile. The way the team as a collective folded was embarrassing.
Wherever MLSE boss Keith Pelley was sitting, he should have learned a lot about who can play and survive in Toronto. Because if Game 5 was any indicator, that list is way too short. In a long list of playoff failures, Game 5 might be the toughest to stomach.
By Joshua Kloke and Chris Johnston
The crowd inside Scotiabank Arena started strong. But then, much like the online world following the Leafs, things turned.
Then Leafs fans buried their heads in their hands. Then the boos emerged in the second period of a playoff game. Then the Bronx cheers followed when Joseph Woll made an easy save late in the period. A fan threw a Matthews Leafs jersey on the ice after the Leafs allowed their fifth goal against. The crowd reflected the online vitriol that was spreading like wildfire. You could practically feel an entire fanbase turning on the stars they’d supported for years. And it’s a turn that feels justified: This was a putrid effort that fans did not deserve.
Remember Game 5 against the Ottawa Senators, when the Leafs had a chance to win the first round at home and laid an egg? Remember, well … you could use so many different failures from this core. Leafs fans inside the building felt more frustrated than ever at watching the same movie, once again. If the Leafs lose in Game 6 and Game 5 was the last time the home crowd sees their team, they wanted them to know how disappointed they were. Enduring images and sounds that could, and should, last long into the offseason.
By Joshua Kloke and Chris Johnston
The Maple Leafs were at home, not down in a series and had, you would think, no reason to come out tight.
Yet history is a great teacher and as in past pivotal playoff games, the Leafs’ top players looked tight and offered little to no creativity and spark with the puck. You could practically feel the ghosts of past playoff failures peering down from the Scotiabank Arena roof. The tone was set early. The Leafs looked like a team not playing to win but instead playing not to lose. And where did that get them? In the first period, the Panthers had 33 shot attempts at five-on-five to the Leafs’ eight shot attempts. The Panthers had a deafening 11-1 advantage in shot attempts when the Auston Matthews line — ostensibly the Leafs’ best line — was on the ice in that period. And things didn’t get any better.
Matthews’ best chance came midway through the second period when he brought the puck just outside of the blue paint and could only stuff the puck into Sergei Bobrovsky’s pads.
Midway through the second period, Mitch Marner looked like a junior player with an unnecessary blind pass up the middle of the ice and then zero effort defensively to prevent the Panthers’ third goal.
Two players don’t lose you a game, to be sure. The Leafs’ poor effort should fall on nearly 20 pairs of shoulders. But the Leafs are built to have their best players win them games. Just as in years past, those players looked incapable of doing so.
Florida Panthers minority owner Douglas Cifu has been suspended indefinitely by the NHL over posts on social media, deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic.
The comments were made using an X account that has since been deactivated following the Panthers’ 2-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 4 of their second-round series on Sunday night.
Read more below.
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Florida Panthers minority owner suspended indefinitely over social media posts
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TORONTO — It was different this year.
These weren’t the same Maple Leafs. They played a different style, a playoff style, a Craig Berube style. They were playing the way they needed to play to win in the playoffs. They knew how to win close games. They responded to adversity. They were tough. They were heavy. Their stars had embraced the right mentality to finally win.
Not so much. The first two games of their second-round series with the defending champs have proved to be an aberration.
Even with a stronger defence and better goaltending, the Leafs are proving they aren’t so different after all. An embarrassing, humbling, shocking Game 5 defeat showed that.
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The Maple Leafs are proving they aren’t so different after all
Anonymous: Good to see it’s ok to knock goalies out of series and receive zero punishment.
David H.: Stolarz being out has made all the difference. He was keeping the puck out and also playing the puck well to counter the dump in strategy. I was really hoping Stolarz would be back for Game 6.
Joe D.: Leafs would be up 3-2 if elbows were illegal in the NHL.
Paul G.: Makes perfect sense. Why risk you health and career for a bunch of guys who won’t show up for you anyway!
TORONTO — With the Toronto Maple Leafs facing elimination in their second-round playoff series, head coach Craig Berube says goaltender Anthony Stolarz is unlikely to travel with the team to Florida for Friday’s Game 6 against the Panthers.
Stolarz has been sidelined since suffering an apparent head injury in the series opener on May 5.
While he skated Thursday morning at Toronto’s practice facility, Berube didn’t expect to see Stolarz on the team charter later that afternoon.
“I doubt it,” Berube said.
Read more below.
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Anthony Stolarz unlikely to travel with Maple Leafs to Florida for Game 6 vs. Panthers
“Let’s f—ing go. Let’s go.”
Max Domi appeared to mutter those words to Matthew Tkachuk off a centre-ice faceoff in the second period of Game 5. The Panthers had just upped their lead to 3-0, effectively burying the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Tkachuk refused to engage with Domi. Twelve seconds later, Domi slashed Tkachuk and was called for his 11th penalty in 11 games this postseason, the most — by far — of any Leaf, and the most, in fact, of any NHL player this spring.
Out-coached in this series so far, Leafs head coach Craig Berube has plenty of decisions to make to try to save his team’s season. Among them is whether to play Domi at all in Game 6 on Friday night.
Domi took three more minors after the Tkachuk slash in Game 5: One for holding and a double minor for roughing. He was also handed a 10-minute misconduct to close out the evening.
All this only a day after Berube pulled Domi aside for a brief chat after practice, a chat that presumably would have (or should have) stressed the need for discipline in the face of Florida agitation.
Read more below.
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The Maple Leafs aren’t done yet. What does Craig Berube do now?
Jeff S.: I hate both teams, I want both to lose…bad. But Florida is a really good team. The Leafs are really good, but aren't playing great, either.
The P.: The Panthers have made some the best teams in the league look average in the playoffs in recent years. Even in the final last year they were able to keep McDavid off the score sheet in 5 of 7 games from what I remember.
John P.: Florida is a much better team than Toronto but it’s also easy to look dominant when you knock out the starting goalie of the opposing team in Game 1. Every team in the league would struggle without their starting goalie.
Joseph M.: Florida fans are fortunate to have this team. Such physical dominance. So enjoyable to watch.
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TORONTO — In a quiet visitors’ dressing room just seven days prior, Aaron Ekblad did not hesitate when asked about his Florida Panthers being in an 0-2 series hole to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“There’s a decision to be made in the room to understand that teams are going to win games at home, and we’re fine, there’s no panic in our group,” the veteran defenseman said last Wednesday night after the Panthers lost 4-3. “We’re well-equipped to handle this situation with veteran leadership. A lot of guys have been in this situation. So we’re not worried. It’s playoff hockey. Home-ice advantage, they won two at home, so what?”
So what, indeed.
Seven days and three consecutive wins later, Ekblad and the defending Stanley Cup champions have backed up that confidence. They insisted they would find a way to regroup after the early-series deficit and that’s exactly what they’ve done.
There will be lots said over the next day or two about Toronto freezing once again in a big-stage playoff moment. I mean, how can that not be the narrative once again? Game 5 was a spectacular Maple Leafs meltdown by any measure.
Read more below.
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LeBrun: This year’s Panthers might be the most dangerous version yet
By Joshua Kloke and Chris Johnston
SUNRISE, Fla. — After 25 total goals were scored over the first three games of the series, Game 4 featured the first goaltending duel of the second-round series.
Joseph Woll had one of his best games of the season for the Maple Leafs, but Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky also re-discovered his form of the 2024 playoffs and came out on the right side of the goaltending battle.
Read more on Game 4 below.
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Maple Leafs fall flat as Panthers even series with Game 4 win: Takeaways
By Chris Johnston and Joshua Kloke
The Toronto Maple Leafs came flying out of the gates in Game 3, but the Florida Panthers remain the reigning Stanley Cup champions for a reason.
After allowing two quick goals and the Leafs to build a 3-1 lead, the Panthers stormed back with three unanswered goals in the second period to build a 4-3 lead. It was a lead they gave up in the third period, but Brad Marchand did what he does best and sank the Leafs with an overtime goal.
Read more on Game 3 below.
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Maple Leafs drop Game 3 in OT as Panthers cut Toronto’s series lead to 2-1: Takeaways
By Joshua Kloke and Chris Johnston
TORONTO — After entering the second round of the playoffs as betting underdogs, the Toronto Maple Leafs now have the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on the ropes.
With a spirited and complete 4-3 win in Game 2, the Leafs took a 2-0 series lead.
Read more below.
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Maple Leafs defeat Panthers in Game 2, take 2-0 series lead: Takeaways
By Chris Johnston and Joshua Kloke
TORONTO — With one of their better games of the playoffs, the Maple Leafs stormed to an early lead in Game 1 and held on late, beating the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers 5-4.
The last time the Leafs won the opening games in two rounds of the playoffs was 2001.
Through the first two periods, the Leafs looked and acted like the aggressors against an opponent that was thought to be the nastier and more physical team coming into Game 1. Two goals from William Nylander and goals from Morgan Rielly, Chris Tanev and an electric breakaway goal from Matthew Knies were the difference against a Panthers team that waited until the third period to turn it on.
Read more on Game 1 below.
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Leafs hang on to win Game 1, but lose Anthony Stolarz: Takeaways
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TORONTO – Mitch Marner waltzed on the scene here nearly nine years ago, capturing the hearts and minds of Maple Leafs fans as a hometown kid with boundless imagination and energy.
His final act as a celebrated star at Scotiabank Arena may ultimately be remembered for a dance of a much darker variety after he inexplicably spun off a defender in his own zone and tossed a no-look backhand pass up the middle of the ice to open the floodgates for the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.
This 6-1 embarrassment does not fall exclusively on Marner’s shoulders – not even close – but his role in the capitulation and the personal stakes it carried perfectly sum up where a woebegone franchise finds itself this morning.
The Leafs haven’t just let a second-round series slip away with three losses to the Panthers that have gotten exponentially worse with each successive one. Trailing 3-2 in a best-of-seven, they’re now on the cusp of setting an entire era up in flames.
Read more below.
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Maple Leafs’ once-heralded ‘Core Four’ era is slipping away before our eyes
TORONTO — Chris Tanev stepped in front of the cameras wearing a look you don’t often see from the confident veteran: shock.
The Maple Leafs defenceman’s eyes widened as he fought for words after a stunning and embarrassing 6-1 loss on home ice Wednesday in Game 5. It was a loss that ranks among the worst of a list of recent Leafs playoff failures.
“It’s something we have to learn from individually, and everyone, including myself, needs to be much better next game,” Tanev said.
As the reality of one of the most embarrassing losses in recent Leafs playoff history set in, four Leafs and head coach Craig Berube offered different sets of defences and admissions of responsibility. There was a palpable mix of shock and bewilderment in the loss, and even confidence in the Leafs’ chances ahead in Game 6.
They were trying to defend the indefensible: a remarkably poor effort for most of the game with their second-round series, and their season, fading away.
Read more below.
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Maple Leafs reflect on ugly Game 5 loss: ‘Everybody’s got to look in the mirror’
TORONTO — There was nothing to like here. No redeeming qualities. No silver linings.
Everyone was bad. Everyone knew it stunk. The fans booed throughout the game — at least the few thousand who didn’t get up and leave early, despite paying some of the highest ticket prices in pro sports. One threw the captain’s jersey on the ice.
Even by Toronto Maple Leafs standards, it set a high mark for futility.
“Flush it down the toilet,” was Mitch Marner’s advice for how to move past an ugly 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 5 that feels like it probably ended their season. Team president Brendan Shanahan might want to make sure the plunger is handy, though, as even the franchise’s overburdened bad-game john might reject this offering.
For the first time all season, ever-unflappable head coach Craig Berube sounded somewhat shell-shocked when he met with the press after the game. His team had a chance to take control of the series and put the defending champs on the ropes, going up 3-2 in the series with Game 7 available, if necessary, at home.
Instead, the Leafs totally no-showed in one of the organization’s most important games in decades.
Read more below.
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Why Maple Leafs’ Game 5 loss might be their worst one yet
