Sunrise, Florida – There’s Game 7.
The Florida Panthers, who missed a chance to punch their third straight ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals, were unable to find the goal they needed in a 2-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the sixth round of the Eastern Conference held at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday.
So far, this series hasn’t been boring.
First, the Maple Leafs competed for a 2-0 series lead.
The Panthers then won three straight games and went 3-2.
Currently, the series will be decided in Sunday’s final match in Toronto.
“At the end, we were down 2-0 in this series, so we would have loved Game 7 and this opportunity,” forward Matthew Tokachuk said. “We’re not going to sit here and speak out about it. It’s an opportunity to make a name for ourselves again. We’ve enjoyed these games and enjoy these moments.”
During the first period, the road team had juice.
Despite the Panthers’ two power plays, the Maple Leafs went into a break to lead a 7-2 shot in goal thanks to a handful of event shifts in the offensive zone.
“Their penalty kills were really good,” Tkachuk said. “They were blocking a lot of shots. Our power plays have to be better. It’s mainly five of us and we play most of it. We don’t make them when they’re there, we don’t make some decisions that they don’t normally make. We have to go back to the basics.”
The biggest moment of this era was when Sergei Bobrovsky kicked out the left pad and denied Matthew Needs with a backhand shot from the front door, leaving the early tie intact.
After kicking out 13-8 with a scoring chance in the first period, the Panthers were the second attacker, finishing at the 13-4 edge with a scoring chance while firing 33 shot attempts.
It was all playoffs, so it was also suitable for the penalty kill task.
Florida allowed just three shots during two power plays in Toronto’s middle frame.
Overall, the Panthers believe they need to be more decisive against the puck despite their stacked shot attempts.
“I thought we were slowing it off the stick,” coach Paul Maurice said. “We thought we were swinging a lot of guns, but we didn’t want to pull a few triggers.”
Orton Matthews, who broke the ice in the third term, took advantage of sales to fire a shot from the top of the left circle, passing Bobrovsky, making it 1-0 at 6:20.
A maple leaves were given to the breathing room a little later, and Max Pasioretti went to the net 2-1, firing a pass from Bobby McMann into the cage, making it 2-0 at 14:17.
From there, the Panthers kept pushing, but were unable to get the puck past Joseph Wal, who finished with a shutout in round 22.
They’ve done it many times before, so that’s what to do with the opportunity now.
“There are six teams left and they can all be in Game 7,” Maurice said. “It’s the way the puck bounces out of YA. That tension is part of Game 7. It’s just as honest as you’ll find. There’s no cheating in that game.”
They said that
“I think we have to start looking for more sticks. We have great scorers and great shooters here, but they have some great defensive power and obviously great goalkeepers. – Matthew Tokachuk, who has broken through Toronto’s defense
“Both teams played pretty defensively. There’s not much time and space there. We need to learn from it and move on. – Jesper Boqvist bouncing in Game 7
“We’ve played Game 7 before. We’re not going to show you the videos of those Game 7. We’ll watch the game tonight and see where it gets better.” – Paul Maurice on team experience in Game 7
Cat statistics
– The Panthers chased 13-6 on an attempt at Heidanger Shot.
-Seth Jones owned a team-high 78.26% share of 5-for-5 shot attempts.
-Sergei Bobrovsky made six Heidanger saves per NaturnStattrick.com.
-Aleksander Barkov won the team’s best 10 showdowns.
-Jesper Boqvist recorded a team high 8 hits.
– Florida led 58-35 on hits. Toronto led 31-10 on a blocked shot.
What’s next?
Someone is back home.
Needing the best road game of the season, the Panthers will try to eliminate Maple Leaf in Game 7 of the second round of the Eastern Conference, held at Scottia Bank Arena at 7:30pm on Sunday.
Click here to find a place to watch the game in South Florida
