Paul Maurice Turns to Mind Games Ahead of Decisive Game 7 Against Leafs

As Toronto and Florida head into Game 7, it's all about both the physical and mental game for both teams. Florida is hellbent on keeping their repeat hopes alive, meanwhile Toronto is hungry to prove everyone wrong.

While the Maple Leafs are going to have some reinforcements back in the lineup, as Matthew Knies was seen at practice and is ready to go, the panthers on the other hand are dealing with a pretty significant injury.

Game 6 saw the absence of Evan Rodrigues, a key top-six forward who was knocked loopy from Oliver Ekman-Larsson in Game 5.

His status is up in the air, and according to Paul Maurice, we won't know until game time.

Maurice stated that Rodrigues was feeling good ahead of the critical Game 7, but wouldn't show his hand on whether he would show up in the lineup.

It looks like Rodrigues will return however, and expect him to take his normal second line duties with captain Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart, and expect them to be a huge factor in whether or not Florida makes it through Game 7.

Toronto can only hope and ride with the news he's back in the lineup, but have to adapt things a bit from Game 6.

While he hasn't had quite the same postseason that he had last year when Florida won the Cup, Rodrigues has been as vital to the team's success as any other.

He's a physical presence, a menace on the forecheck, and isn't afraid to enact Maurice's dirtier tactics in order to get the job done.

Though he's also been in the headlines this postseason for other reasons.

First, he decided to go up high with an elbow on John Tavares to no call, then he ended up diving into the boards and receiving an embellishment call that he tried to play innocent to.

So it isn't too surprising to see Oliver Ekman-Larsson dish out some vengeance for his antics, leading to his two game absence. Luckily he only got a two-minute minor on the play, and it may have given Toronto an advantage if he couldn't play.

Rodrigues will no doubt have all eyes on him, much like the rest of the Panthers and Leafs as they head into battle for a highly anticipated Game 7 clash on Sunday night.

Rodrigues has appeared in nine games, adding three assists, 19 hits and a minus-2 rating in only 14:00 TOI.