pc28����

“That’s what you want to play for,” Mitch Marner said of the upcoming Game 7. “Especially when you’re down 3-2 in an away building. You want to bring your best. And I thought we did. The job is going to get harder. So we can’t be satisfied.”

The good news is that Matthews and the rest of the team’s core rose to the occasion in Game 6. They’ve been facing a lot of heat for failing to produce when it matters the most. Matthews hadn’t scored in the first five games of the series. But, set up by Marner, he came through with a 37-foot wrist shot at 6:20 of the third period to break a scoreless tie.

“I’ve had some good opportunities in the series and I’m just going to continue to shoot, believe that the next one is going in,” Matthews said. “And so that one felt great.”

The next one came on his 24th shot of the series on Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky.

“Such a huge goal,” Pacioretty said. “That’s a situation where no one wants to make a mistake. You could feel the tension on both sides at that point in the game. Just an unbelievable shot from an unbelievable player. And that’s why he’s our captain.”

It was the first time Matthews had scored in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. He went without a goal over five games two years ago, also against the Panthers.

“Everyone will probably want to talk about the goal and the points, but at the end (Matthews and Marner) were making plays … and winning puck battles to seal that win,” Pacioretty said.

“I’ve never been as good as them, but I’ve been in their shoes a little bit where you’re judged on one thing as a player. But they bring so much to this team and, as a group, it doesn’t go unnoticed. And it showed tonight.

Pacioretty followed up with a backhander at 14:17 on a feed from Bobby McMann.

Injury trouble

Both Matthews and Matthew Knies had injury scares during the game. Matthews took a stick from Aleksander Barkov off a second-period faceoff that got under his visor. There was no penalty on the play, but Matthews left the game briefly.

“I just caught it in the eye,” he said. “A little scary there, but I had some trouble seeing, so they just wanted to go check it out in the room and let it calm down. I was kind of able to get some decent vision back and finally get back out there.”

Knies took a reverse hit from Aaron Ekblad in the second period. He left the game in obvious discomfort and played sparingly in the third period.

“I used him in situational play more than anything,” Berube said. “Down the stretch (I asked him) if he was good to go or he wasn’t good to go. So it was more for me just talking to him on the bench to understand where he was at the time.”

Grinding game

If there was a template of a game that Berube has been preaching, none fit it better than Game 6. It was tight, grinding hockey where forechecks produced what few chances either side could muster.

Florida laid out big hits. The Leafs tried for big plays. Penalty kills outdid power plays. And goalies stopped what defencemen didn’t block.

“We played a simple game tonight and we were determined,” Berube said. “That stands out for me more than anything. Determination. On our toes. Skating over the puck, doing all the little things right. We managed the puck really well.”

The bar was set by Matthews, Berube said.

“Consistently, every night, he plays a 200-foot game for me. He touches all areas of the game. And he got a big goal for us tonight.

“It starts with his determination. His leadership that way rubs off on the rest of our team.”

Putting up a Woll

Joseph Woll became the first Leafs goaltender to post a shutout in a game when facing elimination since Curtis Joseph in Game 5 of the 2002 Eastern Conference final. Woll stopped 22 Florida shots, none bigger than a tip-in attempt from Jesper Boqvist with the game still in doubt.

“We just did a great job of playing the way we knew how to play,” Woll said. “The biggest thing I saw was guys put their body on the line, especially the last couple of minutes when there were a ton a blocked shots.”

Game 7

The winner of Sunday’s game will face the Carolina Hurricanes in the East final. The Leafs, if they win, would have home-ice advantage.

The last time the Leafs won a Game 7 was 2004, when they beat Ottawa in the first round. Florida did it a year ago, beating Edmonton to win the Stanley Cup.