TORONTO – Craig Berube didn’t have an answer. Auston Matthews wasn’t making excuses. Mitch Marner tried to quickly turn the page.
The half-empty stands, the boos from those in attendance at Scotiabank Arena still enduring the pain, and a couple of jerseys tossed over the glass onto the ice painted a bleak picture.
The Maple Leafs have gone from the driver’s seat to the brink of elimination in the space of a week.
They have one opportunity to salvage their season — and save face.
The Florida Panthers showed their title-winning pedigree with a clinical performance Wednesday in dismantling Toronto 6-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the teams’ second-round playoff series.
“It’s hard to explain it,” said Berube, the head coach brought in last spring to get the Leafs’ talented, underachieving roster over its post-season hump.
“We’ve all got to be better, myself included.”
Aaron Ekblad and Jesper Boqvist, with a goal and an assist each, Dmitry Kulikov, Niko Mikkola, A.J. Greer and Sam Bennett scored for the Panthers, who had Toronto on its heels from puck drop.
Game 6 goes Friday night at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla. Game 7, if necessary, would be back in Toronto on Sunday.
It was probably hard for the fans exiting the rink to envision that one being played after watching their team fall flat under the bright lights.
“I don’t think there’s really any excuse or explanation,” said Matthews, Toronto’s captain still without a goal in the series. “We’ve got to win a game to keep our season alive.”
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Sergei Bobrovsky, who finished with 31 saves, saw his shutout streak of 143 minutes 25 seconds dating back to the third period of Game 3 broken late in regulation. Sam Reinhart and Nate Schmidt added two assists each for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
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“I’m not a big believer in momentum,” Florida head coach Paul Maurice said. “The series is closer than you think.”
It didn’t feel like it Wednesday.
Joseph Woll allowed five goals on 25 shots before getting the hook in another ugly performance across the board from the listless Leafs, who led this Atlantic Division matchup 2-0 before three straight losses that have pushed them to the edge.
“I don’t think anyone’s happy,” said Marner, who might have played his last game in blue and white at Scotiabank Arena with his contract set to expire July 1. “Time to reset, refocus be ready for a flight … go into Florida and win a hockey game.”
Matt Murray finished with six saves in relief. Nick Robertson got the consolation goal for Toronto.
“They owned us,” said Leafs winger William Nylander.
The Panthers opened the scoring in a dominant first period where they held a decided edge — both territorially and on the shot clock.
Florida, which blanked Toronto 2-0 in Game 4 at home, found a way past Woll at 14:38 when the Leafs lost a string of puck battles before Ekblad fired his second of the playoffs upstairs.
Leafs forward Scott Laughton hit the post a minute into the second, but it was all downhill from there.
Kulikov made it 2-0 at 6:08 when his point shot went in off Laughton’s stick.
Marner — a pending unrestricted free agent — then flung a hopeful pass up the middle that Florida easily picked off in the neutral zone. Reinhart quickly turned the other way and fed Boqvist, in the lineup for the injured Evan Rodrigues, for him to tap home his first goal since Jan. 25 at 10:05 after Marner didn’t pick the forward up on the backcheck.
“Some sloppy play, not working hard enough, gave them way too many opportunities around our net,” Marner said of the Leafs’ issues. “There’s a good list of it.”
Mikkola made it 4-0 at 14:01 when he blasted his first of the playoffs on a shot that Woll will want back.
Berube started his fourth line to start the third period — a clear message to the team’s core of star forwards led by Matthews, Marner, Nylander and John Tavares.
Greer made it 5-0 with his first at 6:23 as a number of fans headed to the exits. One tossed a Matthews jersey onto the ice. More laundry hit the playing surface as the clock mercifully wound down.
“Play better,” Leafs defenceman and Toronto native Chris Tanev said when asked about the crowd’s response.
“I don’t think we give them much reason to stick around,” Matthews added.
Murray, who last made a playoff appearance in 2020 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, took over from there and allowed Florida’s sixth to Bennett on a power play at 9:09.
The battered and bruised Leafs, who got on the board with 66 seconds left in regulation when Robertson finally beat Bobrovsky, now head south with their backs against the wall.
“I don’t have an answer for you for, ‘Why?’” Berube said. “It’s sports, things happen.”
Nothing good from a Toronto perspective on a disastrous night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
