TORONTO >> Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves, Florida scored three times in a 6:24 span in the second period and the Panthers routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 in Game 7 on Sunday night to advance to the Eastern Conference final.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final, opening on the road Tuesday night.

Seth Jones, Anton Lundell and Jonah Gadjovich scored in the second-period burst and Eetu Luostarinen, Sam Reinhart and Brad Marchand — into an empty net — added goals in the third. Marchand, Luostarinen and Aleksander Barkov each had two assists.

Maxi Domi scored for Toronto. Joseph Woll stopped 28 shots.

Jones opened the scoring at 3:15 of the second, beating Woll to the far post with a shot from the right side. Lundell struck at 7:18, putting in a rebound. Gadjovich followed at 9:39 off another rebound.

Domi cut it to 3-1 at 2:07 of the third, beating Bobrovsky between the legs. Luostarinen countered 47 seconds later for Florida, and Reinhart scored at 9:24.

Referee Chris Rooney left 13 seconds into the second period after Florida’s Niko Mikkola was jousting for the puck and his stick went into Rooney’s face. Garrett Rank took Rooney’s spot.

Final four >> The NHL playoff field included some unexpected entrants, and the first two rounds featured some surprises and a handful of upsets.

Yet as things stand right now with the conference finals beginning Tuesday night, the teams still in contention for the Stanley Cup are a familiar mix of those who have been fighting for it the past few years.

The West final is a rematch of this same round last year with the Dallas Stars facing the Edmonton Oilers. The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are in the East final for a third consecutive spring after beating Toronto in Game 7 of their series and next face the Carolina Hurricanes with these teams meeting at this stage for the second time in three years.

“We’ve already been in a conference final, and we know what’s going to happen there,” said Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov, whose eight goals are second in the postseason to only Mikko Rantanen. “It’s not going to be easy there.”

Nothing is easy this time of year. But some team is eight wins from hoisting the Cup.

East >> Carolina vs. Florida

Game 1: Tuesday at Carolina (5 p.m. PDT, TNT)

The Panthers trailed the Maple Leafs two games to none, then lost their first chance to move on. They made no such misstep Sunday night, waxing Toronto to set up a rematch of the 2023 East final.

That was a sweep, with Florida winning each time by a goal: Game 1 in four overtimes, Game 2 less than two minutes into OT, Game 3 1-0 and Game 4 when Matthew Tkachuk scored with 4.9 seconds left. The banged-up Panthers lost to the Golden Knights in the final but learned lessons that helped them win it all last year.

The Hurricanes, who beat New Jersey without best player Jack Hughes in the first round and suffocated Washington in the second, get the benefit of rest having played just 10 games this postseason.

West final >> Dallas vs. Edmonton

Game 1: Wednesday at Dallas (5 p.m. PDT, ESPN)

Katy Perry was scheduled to be on tour at the Stars’ arena on Wednesday night. Instead, it will be Corey Perry and the Oilers.

Edmonton has rolled since opening the playoffs with a pair of losses at Los Angeles, getting back to the third round thanks to an unlikely combination of defense and goaltending. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have combined for 33 points, too.