Article content The Leafs were dreadful in Game 5 at home, then clinical and professional in Game 6 in Florida. And now, it’s a best-of-one. Game 7. Winner take all. For the Leafs and Panthers and almost anybody who grew up in this nation who once played with a tennis ball, a wooden stick and a Canadian Tire net, where the mesh would never tie in properly, and had thoughts of scoring winning goals. The streets will be quiet. And all the big kids with beating hearts and nostalgia afloat will remember the driveway dreams and the belief that maybe one day it would be them. THIS AND THAT The bad news for the Maple Leafs: History. This Brendan Shanahan group has played in Game 7’s five times in the past seven seasons. Their record is 0-5 in those games. They lost to Boston three times, to Montreal once, to Tampa Bay once. In the five defeats, the Leafs scored only eight goals. In the past four defeats — including an overtime loss to the Bruins last year — Toronto scored just four goals in four games. That’s with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander playing. The good news: The Leafs are due for a Game 7 victory … The combination of Matthews and Marner on Friday night in Sunrise, offensively and defensively, all over the ice, was the greatest combined statement game of their careers. That they did nothing much before Game 6 in the series shouldn’t be forgotten. But they’re the primary reason there is a Game 7. And maybe, they can find an energy, a momentum, they’ve never known before as big time playoff performers … Neither Matthews nor Marner have a Game 7 goal in their careers. Combined, they have just five assists in five games played … Will this be Marner’s last game as a Leaf? If Toronto loses, the expectation is that he moves on from them and they move on from him … Not sure where things stand with John Tavares, who wants to remain a Leaf … Carey Price once tried to explain to me how difficult it was to stop Matthews’ shot. To paraphrase Price, he said you never knew where the shot was coming on or when it was coming. Different launch angles. Different deliveries. None of them hockey conventional. All of them quick. That had gone missing in some ways for most of the season but re-appeared Friday night in Florida just when the Leafs needed it … In explaining goal-scoring to me years ago, the late Mike Bossy attributed his success to quickness of delivery. He didn’t aim, he just shot. As quick as he could. “That’s what Matthews is doing,” Bossy said a few years back … When Matthews wasn’t scoring — he has just one goals in 11 playoff career games against Florida — a hockey voice said: “If the Leafs wanted a 200-foot player who didn’t score, they should have signed Philip Danault for $4 million a year.” … So who starts Game 1 of the Olympics next winter for Team USA: Connor Hellebuyck or Jake Oettinger?