The Florida Panthers overcame a two-goal deficit and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs by a 5-2 count at Amerant Bank Arena to win the Atlantic Division in its final game of the regular season.
Florida finished the 2023-24 campaign with a 52-24-6 record and 110 points. They won a divison title for the fourth time in franchise history and will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.
An early cross-checking call on Gustav Forsling helped the Maple Leafs grab the lead at the 3:25 mark. Mitch Marner took a return pass from Morgan Rielly and let go of a shot from above the right circle that John Tavares tipped past Anthony Stolarz.
Noah Gregor added on at 11:18 when he collected a loose puck along the right boards and curled into open space before beating a screened Stolarz from long range.
A well-rested Carter Verhaeghe got the Cats on the board 28 ticks into the second period. After taking a cross from Matthew Tkachuk, Verhaeghe’s weak one-timer was blockered away by Joseph Woll. The rebound struck Sam Bennett and Verhaeghe would find and bury it for his 34th goal.
After the Panthers failed on two power-play chances, Bennett knotted the score at 10:32 by deflecting home Forsling’s drive after Tkachuk set the defenseman up with a crossing pass that bounced off the boards and into his wheelhouse.
Florida took the lead ten seconds later after Aleksander Barkov drove to the net and was denied by Woll. The result of Woll’s poke-check came right to Sam Reinhart and he converted from the lower left circle. That’s 56 goals for Reinhart and 56 assists for the captain.
Another quick strike would double the lead exactly three minutes later. After Tarasenko was stopped on a good chance by Woll, he collected the rebound and passed to Barkov, who swept the puck back to Brandon Montour at the right point, Montour took a couple strides to his left before unleashing a monster blast that found the back of the net. Shades of last season for Montour.
In the final frame, the Panthers would kill off a trio of penalties, Stolarz would make all eight saves and Reinhart would the dot “i” in victory with an empty-net goal from Eetu Luostarinen at 17:40 to complete scoring for both the game and the season.
Paul Maurice’s decision to ice a (near) full lineup paid off in spades as the Panthers shrugged off an early deficit and blew away the Leafs with a dazzling four-goal second period that saw the home side out-shoot the visitors by a staggering 29-4 margin. Stolarz finished with 24 saves and did just enough to seal the post and deny Auston Matthews his 70th goal in the the third period. Up next, a postseason with Bolts. Let’s get it on!
Rakes & Bags
- Sam Reinhart scored twice to finish the season with a team-leading 57 goals and 94 points. His 57 goals is the third-most in franchise history behind Pavel Bure’s back-to-back seasons of 58 and 59 at the turn of the century. Reinhart’s 94 points tied Bure’s total from 1999-00 as the fourth-highest by a Panther in a single season. Back up the Brinks truck.
- First star Sam Bennett notched the game-tying goal and added an assist to finish the campaign with a tidy 20 goals. It’s just the second time that Bennett has reached the 20-goal mark in his nine-year career.
- Aleksander Barkov’s second assist of the tilt got him to 80 points. That’s the third time in his career that Barkov has hit 80 or more points. Barkov has picked up at least a point in 10 of his last 11 games played.
- Auston Matthews registered five shots on goal, but couldn’t come up with his 70th goal. Matthews ended the game with a minus-three rating.
- Anthony Stolarz posted his career-best 16th win and set a new franchise record for lowest goals against average in a season: 2.03. Great year for Stolarz, great signing by Bill Zito.