It's simple, what the Maple Leafs must do to beat Florida in Game 7

Article content

After flipping the script, Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube doesn’t want to see his players start improvising in Game 7.

Heading into Game 6 following a brutal showing in Game 5, Berube implored his group to play the game in the manner it has through much of 2024-25, with equal levels of simplicity, hard work and execution.

Berube’s words were taken to heart.

It wasn’t flawless on Friday night as the Leafs completely forgot about the Game 5 debacle and beat the Florida Panthers 2-0, but it was pretty close.

Berube, speaking to media in Florida on Saturday morning before the Leafs flew to Toronto, wants to see more of the same from his players on Sunday night at Scotiabank Arena in the win-or-go-home match.

“Focus on what we focused on in Game 6, the way we played the game, I talked about the skating, being aggressive, managing the puck, playing simple,” Berube said. “That’s really what you have to do in Game 7.

“I don’t think a whole lot needs to change. You have to be determined, you have to be desperate and you’re going to have to have urgency.”

Fascinating, isn’t it, how the perception and fortunes of a team can change so drastically in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

After the Leafs lost Game 5 by a score of 6-1 on Wednesday at home, media and fans alike had written the team off, sure that the defending Cup champion Florida Panthers were going to put the final nail in the Leafs on Friday night. It would have been the Panthers’ fourth win in a row in the best-of-seven, and the majority of observers pegged it as Mitch Marner’s probable last game with the Leafs.

Now the series is tied 3-3 and the Leafs are coming home to what will be an invigorating atmosphere at Scotiabank Arena.

Now there’s the real possibility that the Leafs will meet former teammate Frederik Andersen and the rest of the Carolina Hurricanes, waiting since eliminating the Washington Capitals on Thursday, in the Eastern Conference final.

Carrying momentum from one game to the next in the playoffs doesn’t usually happen. At the same time, we figure the Leafs have worked a bad game out of their system, and as Berube would like to think, will be a lot closer to what we saw in Game 6 than how they played in Game 5.

“You have to move on from a tough game just like you have to move on from a good game,” Berube said. “(The Leafs players) have done a good job of doing that and getting focused for the next one and being more determined.

“I use that word determination. I thought there was a lot of determination in Game 6. That’s on them. They did a good job of that. They brought the emotion. We just have to work. We have to make sure we’re working, have to work before skill and then the skill can take over at some point.”

That’s how it was settled on Friday night, when the Leafs’ best duo in decades, Marner and captain Auston Matthews, hooked up for the winning goal early in the third period.

The must-win between the Leafs and Panthers will be the 201st Game 7 in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs, per the National Hockey League. The home team is 118-82 in Game 7s, and the team that takes a 1-0 lead has won 150 times.

This series has been tight, and it would make sense if the final result is by one goal: No less than 104 of Game 7s have been decided by one goal.

The Leafs are 12-15 in the 27 times they have played in a Game 7 in franchise history. The Panthers have played in a Game 7 four times and are 3-1.

Toronto has lost each of its past six Game 7s, not having won since beating Ottawa 4-1 on April 20, 2004, in the seventh game of the first round.

All that matters now is what happens on Sunday, starting at 7:30 p.m.

“We had one job and it was to win down here and force a Game 7 and we did that,” forward Scott Laughton told media on Saturday morning. “We brought simplicity to our game and patience and we found a way.

“That was a Game 7 for us, so we have another opportunity. Every shift, every puck battle, it’s so important in these situations. We still have a job to do.

“It’s always fun, Game 7 at home in Toronto, I think it’s pretty electric. It’s going to be exciting and we’re ready to go.”tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun