In Sunrise, the highlight of the evening for the Panthers was a 1-1 tie coming out of the first period.
Auston Matthews hit for his first of two on the night for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Matthew Tkachuk scored to tie the game, 1-1.
“I thought we had a good first period, weathered the storm at times when they really got rolling, and [Matt] Murray came up with some big saves, obviously,” Matthews said. “We were able to capitalize on some chances there. … I think just a good game all around, especially with how desperate these guys came out, and just to play through the pressure they bring.”
Toronto scored three in the second to take a 4-2 lead into the third period, where they tacked on two more for a 6-2 win.
Matt Murray made 34 saves in the Toronto win.
“I thought [Murray] looked great,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Our guys did a really good job in front of him. That’s a very dynamic offensive team that we played against and really limited their opportunities. When they did break free and looked dangerous, he made it look easy. I really liked that.”
The Maple Leafs improved to 43-19-9.
Nick Cousins scored for the Panthers in the middle frame after the Maple Leafs had taken a 3-1 lead.
In the middle frame, William Nylander and Matthews put the Maple Leafs up, 3-1.
“It’s obviously nice to score, I thought my game has been getting better as of the past two games, so it’s just moving in the right direction,” Nylander said.
The Panthers dropped to 36-29-7 on their second straight loss.
“We just have to get a win [Saturday at the New York Rangers],” Tkachuk said. “We have to do everything it takes. Hopefully we’ll get some help before that, but it’s definitely not the end of the world. We’re right in the race right now.”
Florida lost a chance to keep pace in the Eastern Conference wild card race.
Michael Bunting scored with less than two minutes left in the second period for a 4-2 lead to the Leafs.
“It’s been a long wait, a long wait for one, that’s for sure,” Keefe said. “We’re glad to get it. It didn’t go in the way we drew it up but it’s nice for the guys to come through. It was an important time in the game.”
In the third period, Alexander Kerfoot scored to make it 5-2 to Toronto, and Mitchell Marner hit for an empty-net goal at at 15:49 for the 6-2 final.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves in the Florida loss.
“The hardest part of it was we got into some penalty trouble and we had basically all the momentum,” Tkachuk said. “[Defensive] zone, we didn’t do a great job of shutting plays down, we kind of let them run all over the place and create their offense. They were moving around a lot, and we didn’t do a good enough job of getting in front of Murray, he basically saw everything tonight. Just a tough one at a tough time of year.
“[The Maple Leafs] got crushed the other night by the [New York] Islanders (7-2 loss on Tuesday), they wanted to turn the page, and they turned it, and we didn’t [after a 6-3 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday].”
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