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Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers cruised past the Toronto Maple Leafs with a dominant 6–1 win in Game 7 of their second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series on Sunday night. After falling behind 2–0 early in the series, Florida stormed back with three straight wins before the Leafs forced a decisive Game 7.

None of the Maple Leafs were. This was the biggest game in franchise history in 23 years. With a victory in Game 7 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round, Toronto would reach the conference final for the first time since 2002 when they faced the Carolina Hurricanes.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points, Jalen Williams added 24 and the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled into the Western Conference finals, beating the Denver Nuggets 125-93 in Game 7.

As the clock struck zero on another Toronto Maple Leafs season, it immediately began ticking on Mitch Marner’s remaining days with the organization. Barring an unexpected change of heart, Marner is now a hair over six weeks away from becoming the NHL’s highest-profile free agent since before the pandemic.

A little over a month ago, on April 14, the Pirates put up 10 runs in a win against the Nationals. Paul Skenes had a quality start and picked up a win, and things were looking up for the Pirates’ ace right-hander.

The Panthers find themselves back here, back in a Game 7, this time in the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They failed to win Game 6 on Friday at Amerant Bank Arena, shut out 2-0, with a chance to close out the Maple Leafs, and now sit tied in their best-of-7 series.

That was enough for both teams to wave the white flag. The Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the Denver Nuggets in a 125-93 Game 7 win. The 4-3 Round 2 series win has graduated them to the Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The first series of the now-formalized Vedder Cup is in the books. Its namesake once wondered lyrically whether he was the boxer or the bag. There were no such doubts over the weekend -- the Mariners were the boxer;

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