Before every series, Panthers coach Paul Maurice talks to his team about what they need to do along the way to get ready for Game 7.

The reason: If a series goes the distance — like this NHL second-round matchup with the Maple Leafs has — he doesn’t want his club to be surprised.

“You want to win in four. You do, 100%,” Maurice said Saturday. “But the Game 7s, you’ll remember. Those are the ones. There’s not a lot of them. The further into the playoffs, the more intense they are. But there’s a freedom in Game 7 that’s not anywhere else.”

Welcome to freedom. Game 7 awaits.

A spot in the NHL’s final four is at stake Sunday night in Toronto, when the Panthers and Maple Leafs play the deciding game of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. The winner will face Carolina in the East final; the loser goes into the offseason.

“It’s an opportunity to make a name for ourselves again,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said.

Auto racing: Colton Herta crashed heavily in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 on Saturday, hours after Marcus Armstrong was taken away on a stretcher after a scary crash of his own at nearly the same spot at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

MLB: The Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde on Saturday after a dismal start to the season by a team coming off two consecutive playoff appearances. The Orioles were 15-28 and in last place in the AL East following a loss to the Nationals on Friday night.

NFL: Ex-NFL star Antonio Brown says he was briefly detained by police following an altercation in which gunshots were fired outside Adin Ross’ celebrity boxing event in Miami. Miami police confirmed in a written statement that officers responded to the area at about 3 a.m. after receiving an alert from the gunshot-detection system ShotSpotter.