Finding obituary articles about the Leafs – particularly the Core 4 – was not particularly difficult to do following their Game 5 no-show. Yet for everyone who was ready to stick a fork into the Leafs, they still had one more game to play. And in that game, they were able to receive a stay of execution in the form of a much-needed win. Does anyone in Toronto want to pick their jersey up off the ice?

Toronto 2, Florida 0 (series tied 3-3)

Auston Matthews – yes, the one appearing on missing person posters – broke the ice and broke his slump in the third period with what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

AUSTON MATTHEWS WITH HIS FIRST OF THE SERIES AND IT COULDN'T HAVE COME AT A BETTER TIME 🚨 pic.twitter.com/3zmdBPQ3W9

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 17, 2025

The goal was his first in the series and just his third goal of the playoffs in 12 games. Fortunately for Matthews, the stat below is no longer true.

Of the 110 players in NHL history with 400 career regular-season goals, Auston Matthews is the only one with 0 career goals past the opening round of the postseason

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 16, 2025

Full marks to the Leafs on the win, as they had a much better effort in Game 6 than they did in Game 5. The job's not done yet, as the good vibes from this Game 6 win will be eradicated if Matthews and company cannot deliver in Game 7 at Scotiabank Arena. If the Leafs win that game, it will be the first conference final for the Core 4 and the first trip to a conference final for the Leafs franchise since 2001-02. That season, they lost to Carolina, who is waiting for an opponent in this season's Eastern Conference Final.

Max Pacioretty continues to be the playoff performer the Leafs didn't know they had. Pacioretty scored the Leafs' other goal in Game 6, giving him eight points in 10 playoff games. He has spent much of the playoffs on a line with John Tavares and William Nylander, but he was on the third line with Max Domi and Bobby McMann in this game. Both Domi and McMann assisted on Patches' goal.

Joseph Woll stopped all 22 shots he faced in earning his first career playoff shutout, which was also just his second quality start of the series. Expect Woll to be back between the pipes for Game 7. He seems to be a decent big-game goalie, which could serve the Leafs well in this win-or-go-home meeting.

Joseph Woll in NHL career when facing elimination

Record 4-1
GAA 1.13
Save % .958
SOG Against/Game 28.2
Shutouts 1#LeafsForever

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 17, 2025

One potential injury note for the Leafs: Craig Berube said that he isn't sure whether Matthew Knies will be available for Game 7. Knies appeared to be injured after a reverse hit from Niko Mikkola, but he stayed in the game. If Knies isn't in the lineup for Game 7, you'll know it's something fairly serious. Pacioretty grabbed some top power-play time from Knies, which would probably be the case again if Knies is out.

Sergei Bobrovsky allowed two goals on 17 shots in Game 6. He was tagged with really bad starts in both Games 1 and 2 of the series, so playing a Game 7 on the road won't be easy. But he has plenty of big-game experience.

Florida as a team went 0-for-4 on the power play in Game 6 and is just 4-for-22 (18.2%) in the series.

Seth Jones, who was brought in to help the Panthers' power play, has not registered a point in his last four games. He also has just four playoff points in 11 games. After the trade from Chicago, Jones picked up nine points in 21 regular-season games for Florida. Keep in mind that the Panthers now hold the bag on Jones' lucrative $9.5 million cap hit, which has five more seasons left after this one. Yet if the Panthers win Game 7 en route to another Stanley Cup, they'll think about that later.

Mitch Marner assisted on Matthews' goal, which was his first point in three games. He's worth bringing up here, as he seems to be headed toward unrestricted free agency, win or lose. Unlike past seasons, the Leafs have an easy out from the Shanaplan if they fail to deliver in the playoffs again, as they could perform major surgery on their roster by allowing both Marner and Tavares to walk.

Let's perform some calculations on Marner's regular-season accomplishments. Even though 2024-25 represents his first official 100-point season, Marner has five consecutive seasons of a 100+ point 82-game pace. Over the past three seasons, Marner has the eighth-highest point total of any player and the tenth-highest power-play point total (an average of 32 power-play points per season). In a pure scoring league, Marner is a points machine, and his fantasy rankings reflect that (Top 300 Skaters: 6, Top Roto League Players: 10, Top Cap League Players: 13).

Yet during the playoffs, all of those impressive numbers get pushed to the side. Marner has 13 points in 12 playoff games this season, but he's still a little light on the goals with just two. On the surface, 63 points in 69 career playoff games is still a decent total, but Marner and his teammates still have work to do when it comes to delivering in the biggest games.

If Marner won't be a Leaf after this season, then it's worth considering what his fantasy value will look like on a new team. Although Marner is a top-level scorer in his own right, he has been glued to one of the league's top snipers in Matthews. A potential new destination will need to be a team that has the cap space to fit in Marner's likely eight-digit annual salary. Such a team likely won't have the same level of assembled talent as the Leafs' Core 4, which could result in at least a slight dip in points. Don't expect a Steven Stamkos in Nashville type of decline, which seems even less likely considering that Stamkos is 35 years of age and Marner is only 28. Yet it's worth considering whether Marner's draft-day value will be set too high and based on his production as a Leaf.  

Yes, I know, way too early for that, Leafs fans. I just thought it would be a good time to bring up Marner's potential future fantasy value, win or lose.

If the Leafs can't win it all, my prediction is they let Marner and Tavares sign elsewhere in the offseason and give the earth and sun and moon to Sam Bennett. I don't deliver a ton of hot takes in here, but that's the one I'll sign my name to. Don't take it too seriously, but wouldn't it be something if it happened.

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Other player news:

Alex Ovechkin will return to action in the 2025-26 season, ending any speculation that he would retire after breaking the goal record late in the regular season. Ovechkin has one more season left on a contract with a cap hit of $9.5 million. He will turn 40 just before the season starts, so it's possible that next season is his final season, although it seems like he'll very much be able to continue his NHL career beyond that.

Ovechkin's former linemate Nicklas Backstrom is attempting to continue his hockey journey. Backstrom will reportedly sign a one-year contract to play for Brynas in the Swedish Hockey League. He will be "treading very carefully", playing a limited number of games following hip surgery. Good luck to him.

According to Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, Mattias Ekholm and Calvin Pickard won't be ready to return for Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. Knoblauch is hoping that both will be ready sometime during the series, though.

At the World Hockey Championship, Nico Hischier suffered a lower-body injury and is expected to miss the rest of the tournament. The good news is that the injury isn’t expected to be anything long term that would affect his availability for next season.

The Wild have signed Danila Yurov to a three-year, entry-level contract. Yurov was the Wild’s 2022 first-round pick (24th overall).

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I'll be back tomorrow to discuss Game 6 of Winnipeg/Dallas and any other news. In the meantime, follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Threads @goodsfantasyhockey and Bluesky @goodsfantasyhockey.bsky.social