The Toronto Maple Leafs jumped out to an early lead against the Panthers and never looked back, defeating Florida 4-2 Tuesday night at Amerant Bank Arena.
In the battle between two underachieving Atlantic Division foes, both desperately in need of wins, it was the Maple Leafs who showed the greater urgency. Toronto was on the attack from the get-go and struck first when defenceman Troy Stecher slipped a shot from the blue line by Panthers’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 at 5:24.
The Maple Leafs added to their lead a couple of minutes later. Dakota Joshua scored his fourth of the year off a nice give-and-go play with Nicholas Roy. Toronto took a 2-0 lead into the locker room.
The Leafs looked to extend their advantage in the second on the power play, but Florida’s Sam Reinhart turned the tables, scoring a shorthanded goal at the 14:43 mark of the period. Three Leafs players battled Anton Lundell for the puck behind their net. Unfortunately, they failed to come up with it, and the Panther centre found Reinhart alone in front of Joseph Woll, beating him to make it 2-1. The goal was the only one in the second period, and the only one that Woll would allow.
The game remained tight until 12:18 of the third period. That is when Scott Laughton pushed the lead back out to two. Nick Robertson made a hustle play to beat the Panthers’ defence down the ice, freeing the puck for Steven Lorentz, who flung it toward Laughton, who banged it home.
John Tavares added an empty net goal to make the final 4-1
Up next: Toronto continues its road trip, facing off against the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night at PNC Arena.
