Panthers pile on goals in win
Leafs’ playoffs hopes are dealt a blow by big loss in Florida
SUNRISE, Fla. — Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals, Thomas Vanek had a career-high four assists and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-2 on Tuesday night to stop a fivegame losing streak.
Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist for Florida, which won for only the second time in 10 games. Keith Yandle, Jussi Jokinen, Reilly Smith and Colton Sceviour also scored.
James Reimer stopped 28 shots to win for the first time in eight starts.
Nikita Soshnikov and Leo Komarov scored for Toronto, which dropped a point behind the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Frederik Andersen allowed three goals on eight shots before being replaced by Curtis McElhinney to start the second period. McElhinney made 20 saves.
The Maple Leafs had won three straight.
Marchessault’s second goal put the Panthers ahead 4-1 at 4:38 of the second period after he redirected a pass from Barkov past McElhinney. Marchessault has 22 goals this season, tying Vincent Trocheck for the team lead.
Smith made it 5-1 when he banged in his own rebound with 3:38 left in the second.
The Maple Leafs closed the gap to 5-2 when Soshnikov swept a loose puck past Reimer through traffic in the crease with 1:41 left in the second. The Panthers answered with a power-play goal by Jokinen with 27 seconds left in the period to make it 6-2.
Yandle’s goal from the left circle at 2:17 of the third stretched the lead to 7-2.
Komarov cut Toronto’s deficit to 2-1 on a power-play goal with 6:24 left in the first.
The Panthers went ahead 3-1 with 5:39 to go when Marchessault fired a shot from near the blue line that beat Andersen.
Barkov gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead 18 seconds in, the fastest goal to start a game by Florida this season. Jonathan Huberdeau passed from behind the goal line to Barkov in the crease, and he redirected the puck into the net.
Sceviour increased the lead to 2-0 on his short-handed goal. Sceviour skated in on a breakaway and beat Andersen to the stick side at 10:33. Sceviour has three short-handed goals this season, becoming the first Panthers player to do that since Radek Dvorak in 2009-10.
Panthers D Aaron Ekblad will miss at least the next week after sustaining a concussion during Saturday’s loss to Tampa Bay. ... C Denis Malgin will be out seven to 10 days with a concussion . ... The Maple Leafs have missed the playoffs 10 times in the past 11 years, including the past three seasons in a row.
UP NEXT
The Leafs visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.