Max Pacioretty Has a Message for the Florida Panthers After Maple Leafs Force Game 7

With so much on the line going into Friday's Game 6 contest against the Florida Panthers, the Toronto Maple Leafs lived to see another game by staving off elimination and winning on the road by a score of 2-0.

After what could have been their worst game of the season on Wednesday night, the comments coming out of Leafs Nation made it seem like it was literally do-or-die in Game 5. The fate of the core was on the line and perhaps even some high-level executives if they found a way to lose Game 6 en route to a second round defeat.

However, captain Auston Matthews had other plans as he scored the eventual game-winning tally midway through the third period of Game 6 after a great play from Mitch Marner to set up his first goal of the second round in his playoff career.

First round hero Max Pacioretty then added an important insurance tally to give the Leafs a little more breathing room as they closed out the game up 2-0. Afterwards, the veteran forward had a strong message for both his team and the opposition heading into Sunday night's Game 7.

Truer words might have never been spoken as both divisional foes are going to gear up for a winner-take-all Game 7 to see who advances to the Eastern Conference Finals and face off against the Carolina Hurricanes next week.

Game 6 was a tight affair from start to finish as both team combined for just 39 shots on goal but a whopping 93 hits, which could be an indication of what's to come. Steven Lorentz and Scott Laughton led the way in the hit department for Toronto with 6 and 5, respectively, while Jesper Boqvist had a game-high 8 hits for Florida.

For the sake of the core and the last decade of disappointment, the Maple Leafs can erase a lot of that heartache with a victory on Sunday night and clinch their first Conference Finals appearance since 2002, which, ironically, also came against Carolina.