Panthers Smash Leafs

The Florida Panthers continued their four-game homestand on Tuesday night as they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 at the Bank Atlantic Center. The Cats have beat the Maple Leafs six times in the last seven games. Florida was able to start off strong in the first minute of the first period and got the early lead. Keaton Ellerby softly pushed a shot in from the left point, Mikael Samuelsson redirected the puck from the left side of the crease where James Reimer made the easy save. Sean Bergenheim was able to get the rebound in front of the crease and put it into the open net at 0:59. The Panthers almost increased the lead on their first power play at 6:40 when Brian Campbell's backhand shot from the left of the crease hit the far post. In the second period, although Florida did not score on the their second power play, the movement of the puck at the end of the man advantage did help. From the Maple Leafs blue line, Jason Garrison passed the puck to Marcel Goc at the top right circle. He returned it back to Garrison who was charging through the slot area and he redirected the puck by Reimer's right leg one second after the power play ended at 14:43. Garrison tied a club record for most goals in a season by a Panthers defenseman with 15 goals. Jay Bouwmeester and Bryan McCabe had shared that amount. Toronto closed the gap to 2-1 with 58 seconds remaining in the period. Clarke MacArthur fired a shot from the low left circle that was saved by Jose Theodore, but Tyler Bozak put in the rebound from the low slot. The Panthers got a power play goal at 5:17 of the third period. Ed Jovanovski sent the puck from the left-wing boards to Garrison at the top of the zone. He blasted a slap shot that was deflected off Tomas Kopecky's shaft of the stick to make it 3-1. It was his seventh goal this season. Florida extended their lead to 4-1 on a another power play goal at 10:28. Carl Gunnasrsson's lead pass from his own left circle was stopped by Wojtek Wolski in the high slot. He fed a pass ahead to Goc in the slot who then lifted a wrist shot over the left glove of Reimer. Toronto scored seconds later after their second power play of the game at 13:50. Luke Schenn placed a backhand shot from the slot area on net that Theodore saved, Mikhail Grabovski flipped in the rebound from the right side of the crease. Bergenheim finished things off with an open-net goal with 1:20 left in the game. For Bergenheim it was his 16th goal this season which set a career-high for him. The Cats are now 13-3-2 against Canadian-based teams this season and 8-1-1 on home ice. Florida still holds a one-point lead in the Southeast Division over the Washington Capitals who defeated the New York Islanders in a shootout. The Panthers host the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins on Thursday.