Panthers can't find path to net in Game 6 loss to Maple Leafs

SUNRISE, Fla. – Seventeen different Florida Panthers had scored goals in their first 10 games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, from Aleksander Barkov all the way to Carter Verhaeghe, forwards and defensemen, stars and fourth liners.

But in Game 6, as they tried to close out the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference Second Round, as they tried to reach their third straight Eastern Conference Final, none of those 17 – and none of the rest of the Panthers, either – could manage a goal.

On the brink of the third round, in a close-out game at Amerant Bank Arena, the Panthers were able to do no such thing, setting up a winner-take-all, win-or-go-home Game 7 against the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

Summing it up was Barkov, the Panthers captain: “They played really well. They defended well. We couldn’t score.”

Suddenly, after they had looked like world-beaters in Game 5 on Wednesday, the Panthers were out of sorts, disjointed, unable to find the magic they had so recently had. The Panthers had 31 of their shots blocked by the Maple Leafs, who were suddenly in all the lanes, their bodies creating havoc with the momentum the Panthers had created.

“Back to the drawing board, I guess,” Matthew Tkachuk said.

Perhaps there is something to coach Paul Maurice’s constant scoffing at momentum, after all.

The Maple Leafs allowed six goals to the Panthers in Game 5, a stifling 6-1 win on Toronto’s home ice, though it was also one that Maurice called “the second-tightest game of the series.” Two nights later, with the same goalie (Joseph Woll) and the same lineup (save two), they shut the Panthers out.

“We didn’t get the puck there early enough, I don’t think,” Maurice said. “We launched it a bunch of times, in the 80s, but I thought we were just late with the puck.”

The Maple Leafs outshot the Panthers 7-2 in the first period, but Florida stormed back in the second, camping out in the offensive zone, outshooting the Maple Leafs 12-6, but having little to show for it.

Still, it was 0-0 at that point, with no goals scored heading into the third.

Then Auston Matthews scored at 6:20 of the third. Then Max Pacioretty did the same, at 14:17.

The Panthers couldn’t match them, couldn’t get through, couldn’t solve a goalie who had allowed five goals on 25 shots in Game 5 before being pulled.

Mostly, though, they didn’t even test him.

“That’s one of their strengths, they block the shots really well,” Barkov said. “So we have to find a way to get around them and put more pucks to the net.”

It was what the Maple Leafs had done to great success in Games 1 and 2 of the series, blocking 24 shots in Game 1 and 25 in Game 2, both wins.

“I think they’ve had a big number the entire series, we kind of expect that,” Maurice said. “I just thought we were late getting it off our stick. I thought we were waving the gun a lot, but didn’t want to pull the trigger on a few. Just made people nervous.”

And it was especially the case on the Panthers’ four power plays.

“Their penalty kill was really good, they were blocking shots,” Tkachuk said. “Our power play has to be a lot better and that’s mainly on us five that start and play the majority of it. We’re just pretty slow making plays and not making them when they were there. Just some decisions and some plays that we don’t normally make. Just got to get back to the basics of our game – simple is better for us, and that’s including the power play.”

He acknowledged that it’s rare at this time of year to get clean looks at the net, to get shots without creating traffic, to get easy offense.

“Maybe I start looking for more sticks and looking for more indirects and some plays around the net, but we’ve got to be there for that to happen,” Tkachuk mused. “We’ve got to get more guys to the net.”

They’ll have the chance to try again on Sunday, in Game 7.

“At the end of the day, we were down 2-rip in this series, so we would have loved a Game 7 and this opportunity,” Tkachuk said. “We’re not going to sit here and pout about it. It’s an opportunity to make a name for ourselves again. We enjoy these games. We enjoy these moments. Hopefully we’re going to be ready to go.”

It’s not something they’re going to fret over. They have been here before, including in Game 7 in last season’s Stanley Cup Final after the Edmonton Oilers stormed back from a 3-0 deficit, and won.

“We’ll be fine,” Tomas Nosek said. “I don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine.”

There was a simple message from the team’s leadership, in the aftermath of the Game 6 loss, a simple way of looking at what was ahead for them in two days.

“Just win or learn,” Barkov said. “Today we learn and move on from this game, recover well, and get ready.”

Or, as Maurice put it: “They were good. We’ve got to be better.”