The Florida Panthers are probably not going to win the division, but they showed the first place Toronto Maple Leafs they still might be the top cats in the Atlantic with a suffocating 3-1 victory at Amerant Bank Arena.
Gustav Forsling opened the scoring when he wristed Anton Lundell’s faceoff win over Joseph Woll’s glove from long-range at 9:26 of the first period.
Toronto would even the tilt 1:06 into the second. John Tavares reeled in a loose puck after Forsling whacked it away from William Nylander at the Florida blue line and moved in on Sergei Bobrovsky before firing a shot that ramped off Nate Schmidt’s stick and beat the veteran keeper up high.
With the Cats applying offensive zone pressure, Schmidt dumped the puck behind the net. Morgan Rielly tried to retrieve, but instead, misplayed the puck in front to Eetu Luostarinen, whose one-armed backhand swipe found safe harbor behind Woll 1:04 into the final frame.
While the Panthers held the Maple Leafs to a mere four shots on goal in third, Bobrovsky had to come up huge to deny a wide-open Matthews in the slot and then stop Matthew Knies on the rebound follow-up with 5:25 remaining.
Carter Verhaeghe would add the clincher into an empty-netter at 19:13, converting a pass from Brad Marchand after the former Bruin had his bid for his first as a Panther blocked by Mitch Marner. Aleksander Barkov started the play off by stealing the puck from Auston Matthews. Verhaeghe hadn’t lit the lamp since scoring against the Buffalo Sabres on March 8.
A stellar defensive effort and just enough offense from the Panthers, who added a few regulars back into the lineup, was enough to end a frustrating five-game losing streak. They finished the season series against the Buds with a 3-1 record. Florida will host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
Rakes & Bags
- First Star Eetu Luostarinen ended an 18-game goalless drought when he notched his third game-winner of the season. Luostarinen went the entire month of the March without finding the back of the net. His last goal came on February 22, versus Seattle.
- When Gustav Forsling opened the scoring he established a new career-high in goals with his 11th of the season. Forsling led all skaters with eight shots.
- Anton Lundell’s assist on Forsling’s marker was his 45th point of the season, which set a new career-high for the 23-year-old Finn.
- Joseph Woll was the busier of the two keepers, finishing with 34 saves on 36 shots faced. Third Star Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 stops to collect his 32nd win of the campaign.
- Brad Marchand played his best game since the trade, registering four shots, a block, three hits and a +2 rating. Woll stoned him a second period breakaway and Mitch Marner’s block kept him from an empty-netter.
- Paul Maurice earned his 914th NHL win, tying him with Barry Trotz for the third-most in NHL history. Way to go, PoMo!
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