Toronto topped injury-riddled Florida 4-1 on Tuesday night in Sunrise, Fla., in their first encounter since the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Defenseman Troy Stecher scored his first goal as a Leaf since he was acquired on waivers in November before adding an assist on their second goal. Bobby McMann and Dakota Joshua chipped in with multi-point outings while Scott Laughton sealed the deal with his first goal of the year. Sam Reinhart netted Florida’s only goal.
Joseph Woll turned away 25 shots to pick up the win while the Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 of 29.
The Leafs scored on their first shot for a third consecutive game with a Stecher wrist shot from the point that seemed to perplex Bobrovsky. The goal marked Stecher’s first goal since New Year’s Eve.
Toronto’s third line continued its positive run of form two-and-a-half minutes later, having all snapped lengthy scoring droughts Saturday against Pittsburgh. McMann drove to the outside and slid the puck onto Joshua’s backhand for a casual flip over a sprawling Bobrovsky.
The Panthers struck back late in the second period with a short-handed goal as Toronto’s five-forward power play bungling its defensive assignments. Anton Lundell fought three Leafs off in the corner before feeding a wide-open Reinhart in the slot to cut the deficit to 2-1 at the 14:43 mark.
Laughton poked home his first of the season off a Steven Lorentz feed he fished out from the skates of Aaron Ekblad. John Tavares snapped his four-game goal-less drought with an empty-netter with 19 seconds remaining.
Florida’s Uvis Balinskis was denied his first of the year in close quarters, Jake McCabe scrambling to the rescue to clear his rebound off the goal line early in the opening frame.
Bobrovsky made perhaps his best save of the game when he denied Toronto a short-handed goal of its own in the third period, sliding across the crease to deny Nicolas Roy blocker-side on a 2-on-1.
The Panthers have dropped four of their last five games and four straight at home. In addition to the ongoing absences of Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe missed the game with his wife soon expecting a child.
