Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Comeback comes up short
Barkov leaves game in 2nd period with unspecified injury
SUNRISE — Roberto Luongo’s milestone-in-waiting is becoming a millstone around his neck.
For the second consecutive game Luongo failed to notch victory No. 448 to move past Terry Sawchuk into fifth place on the all-time wins list.
Far more disturbing than the 3-2 shootout loss to Toronto on Wednesday in front of a pro-Leafs crowd in BB&T Center is the potential loss of top-line center Aleksander Barkov, inarguably the team’s best two-way player, to an undisclosed injury.
Barkov, who leads the team with 27 points, left the ice in the second period and didn’t return. After a slow start, Barkov, 21, who led the Panthers with 28 goals last season, entered the game with six goals and 12 points in his last 10 games. He recently scored his 12th career shootout goal, the most in franchise history.
The Panthers fell to 4-4-6 under interim coach Tom Rowe and 1-1-2 on this five-game holiday homestand with the Atlantic Divisionleading Canadiens next on Thursday.
Tied at 2-2 after regulation the
Panthers went into their 10th overtime in their last 18 games. Luongo (45 saves) held off a furious Leafs’ 1:39 power play in OT, including a sensational stop on rookie phenom Auston Matthews to set up a shootout.
With Barkov, Florida’s best shootout practitioner out, Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen stopped all three Panthers’ shooters — Vincent Trocheck, Seth Griffith and Nick Bjugstad — while Leafs rookie Mitch Marner sneaked one past Luongo for the deflating defeat.
Trailing 2-zip and being outplayed after two, Jon Marchessault got the Panthers on the board just 29 seconds into the period when he deflected Keith Yandle’s shot from the point, gathered it in and swatted in his team-leading 11th goal and first since Nov. 27.
Just two minutes later, Marchessault won a puck battle behind his net and got it to defenseman Jakub Kindl for a slap shot that Trocheck followed in with his ninth goal and 100th career point at 2:43.
With 6:54 left in regulation Panthers rookie center Denis Malgin was sprung for a breakaway but was impeded by Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner. A penalty shot was called, but Malgin’s double-deke move was snuffed out by the long leg of Andersen.
The Panthers were unable to click on two firstperiod power plays and trailed 1-0 when after a Kyle Rau turnover from behind his own net ended up on the stick of Connor Brown. His shot caromed off the body of Matthews, the first overall draft pick, who poked it in for his 17th goal of the season and fifth in seven games.
Among rookies, the 19-year-old Matthews is second in goals behind Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine, who has 19.
The Panthers’ power play, which had come alive of late with five goals in the previous five games, came up empty again in the second period as Andersen grabbed a doorstop jam shot by Barkov.
Luongo kept the Panthers close twice stoning Marner on two breakaways, who would later obtain revenge.
With Kindl in the penalty box, the Leafs scored off the ensuing faceoff as James van Riemsdyk waltzed in and beat Luongo on the short side.
However, Panthers coach Tom Rowe challenged the goal, claiming goaltender interference on Nazem Kadri, who brushed Luongo before the puck went in. The NHL Situation Room judges agreed and the goal was negated.
The Panthers were unable to capitalize on that break, as after van Riemsdyk’s disallowed goal, he was getting high fives from his bench when Panthers defenseman Mark Pysyk nudged him. That led to a roughing penalty on Jussi Jokinen and a brief 5-on-3 Leafs’ edge. Just 59 seconds after the goal reversal while skating 4-on-3, William Nylander one-timed a cross from Matthews, and roofed it over Luongo for a 2-0 lead after two periods.
The young, speedy Leafs, chocked with eight rookies in the starting lineup, have taken the first three games of the season series and improved to 3-0 on their fourgame roadie that was interrupted by the Christmas break. Toronto tied the fifth-place Panthers with 37 points.