Joseph Woll turned aside all 22 shots he faced for his first career playoff shutout as Toronto beat the Florida Panthers 2–0 on Friday night to force a Game 7 back home.

After dropping three straight and falling behind in the series, the Leafs responded with their tightest effort of the playoffs. Auston Matthews and Max Pacioretty scored in the third, but it was Woll and the team’s defensive buy-in that made the difference.

“This is a pretty special opportunity for our team,” Woll said. “We felt good going in. We know our process and we’re going to carry that through.”

Florida threw a lot of pucks toward the net, finishing with 81 shot attempts, but only 22 made it to Woll. Toronto blocked 31 shots and kept most of the Panthers’ chances to the outside.

“We came out and skated, were on our toes, played our game,” said head coach Craig Berube. “We played a simple game tonight and were determined. That stands out to me more than anything.”

The goals finally came in the third. Matthews broke through at 6:20, scoring his first of the series with a low shot through Sergei Bobrovsky’s legs. The play started with an errant pass in the Florida zone, and Mitch Marner found Matthews in stride at the blue line.

“The willingness to grind through 60 minutes like that in a tight game,” Matthews said. “Woll made some big saves. I thought we competed hard and obviously broke through in the third. We gritted it out. Really proud of all the guys in the room from top to bottom.”

Pacioretty made it 2–0 later in the period, finishing off a rush started by Bobby McMann. It was just Pacioretty’s second goal of the playoffs, but a huge one.

“They took care of one on our home ice,” said Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk. “They played really well and did what they did earlier in the series by blocking shots. We had a good push in the second, but they played really well in the third once they got the lead there.”

The Leafs had to finish the game without forward Matthew Knies, who was shaken up late in the first and didn’t return.

“He is dealing with something that happened here,” Berube said. “We have to look at him, see how he’s feeling Saturday.”

It was a full team win for Toronto, and now they get one more shot at completing the comeback in front of a home crowd.

Game 7 goes Sunday night at Scotiabank Arena. The Leafs are 7–3 all-time in Game 7s at home. The Panthers, for their part, are 2–0 on the road and eliminated Edmonton in Game 7 last year to win the Cup.