One night after defeating the Tampa Bay Lighting, the Toronto Maple Leafs laid an egg in Sunrise, in a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.
Mike Hoffman and Mike Matheson scored in the first period for the Panthers to overcome an early 1-0 deficit.
Vincent Trocheck returned to the Florida lineup after missing 27 games.
Mike Hoffman had a goal for Panthers in win over Leafs – file photo courtesy of Lewis Bleiman
“It was awesome,” Trocheck said. “Never felt better. Just thankful that I’m able to come back and play hockey again. It’s been a long time coming. You never really realize how much you miss hockey until you’re watching your teammates play and you’re not able to.”
Roberto Luongo made 20 saves to get the win.
“It was huge for our club, especially against a team like Toronto, which is one of the best in the league,” Luongo said. “Starting with our last game in Montreal (5-1 loss in which the Panthers outshot the Canadiens 53-28), even though we didn’t win, I thought we played the right way and we built off of that and had a 60-minute game tonight.”
Ron Hainsey scored the only goal for the Leafs.
“We kind of dig ourselves into a bit of a hole there early,” Auston Matthews said. “You have to be ready every game. It doesn’t matter who you are playing or what the turnaround is. There was no excuse … we have to be ready to play.”
Toronto fell to 29-16-2.
“There’s always highs and lows. We’ve been a pretty good team and we just have to keep getting better. The thing about the National Hockey League is that if you don’t have your A game and they jump on you, you’re not going to win. It’s just that simple,” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said.
Frank Vatrano added an empty-net goal to seal the win.
“I thought [Trocheck] was our best player the first period,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “You could tell he was fresh, excited to play, he was in on the second goal. More importantly it puts everybody else back in their proper spots. Everything about having him back worked out better than I thought it would.”
[WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Panthers highlights]
Garret Sparks made 26 saves in the loss.
“I felt good,” he said. “I felt more like myself than I have all season. I felt composed, I felt strong. I felt quick. I’m not happy with the result but I’m happy with how many saves I made. Obviously still work to be done. All you can do is make as many saves as you can and try to give your team a chance.”
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