In Toronto, the Maple Leafs found a good game on the bench and defeated the Florida Panthers, 4-2 on Sunday.
The win moved the Leafs back into a tie for third in the Atlantic Division.
John Tavares hit for a pair of goals for Toronto.
“It was good, good to finish some plays off,” Tavares said. “A great couple of plays by [Mitchell Marner], and especially around the net, an area I want to be good at and I think is a strength of mine. It was definitely nice to contribute in a really good way against a good opponent in a key game, so it was nice to see them go in.”
Petr Mrazek made 29 saves in the Maple Leafs win.
“We made a mistake on the first goal for sure there, but that’s the most dangerous team in the League, maybe save for Colorado, on the rush, and I don’t think we really gave up anything on the rush today,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It was a huge challenge for our team to do that and we stuck with that all the way through. So when you do that and you’re playing against a top offensive team in the NHL, you’ve taken away a lot of their weapons right there and it gave us a chance.”
Toronto improved to 41-19-5.
“It’s the best I’ve ever seen,” Tavares said of Marner’s passing ability. “His awareness out there is exceptional, the way he sees the play develop two or three steps. The way he sees things ahead of time, he communicated to me before the goal about being ready for that play, that lane.”
Morgan Reilly gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead, but Brandon Montour tied it, and Ilya Mikheyev put Florida ahead, 2-1.
“Obviously, a big bounce back game for us (after a 4-2 loss on Saturday to the Montreal Canadiens). These back-to-backs aren’t always easy, but it was good to have a good effort,” Rielly said. “We haven’t played these guys, they’re in our division and they’re having a great year, so we had a good reason to be ready, and we were, so that’s a good sign.”
The Panthers dropped to 44-15-6.
“I really liked our road effort night in, night out,” Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. “We put ourselves in position in all the road games to get points and win games. That’s all you can ask for.”
Auston Matthews scored an empty-net goal with one second left on the game clock for the 4-2 final.
“It shows he’s a battler, he competes, he believes in himself,” Keefe said. “He was outstanding again tonight. That’s two in a row now that he’s looked like the goalie that he is and has been throughout his career, so that’s great he’s bounced back and responded well to adversity here. That’s a terrific sign and a testament to his character.”
Spencer Knight made 18 saves in the Panthers win.
“We’re not worried,” the Panthers’ Ryan Lomberg said. “We’re going to get back to work and see them down the road here.”
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