The Florida Panthers returned home following a five-game road trip and got by the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 at BB&T Center on Friday night. The Panthers snapped a seven-game winless streak with the victory. Vincent Trocheck played in his first game for the Panthers since November 19 at Ottawa.
Toronto(20-16-2) moved ahead 1-0 at 1:49 of the first period. Kasperi Kapanen sent a cross-ice pass from the right point to Morgan Rielly on the left point. He set up Ron Hainsey for a slapshot from the top of the zone to get the tally past Roberto Luongo.
Florida(18-20-8) tied the contest at the 9:02 mark. Nick Bjugstad angled back a pass from the left circle. Keith Yandle then blasted a slapshot from the left point which was redirected by Mike Hoffman in the low slot by Garret Sparks. It was the 23rd goal of the season for Hoffman.
The Panthers took a 2-1 lead with 5:01 remaining in the first. Jonathan Huberdeau flushed the puck from out of the slot area to Trocheck at the top left circle. His short pass to the blue line got to Mike Matheson and he smashed in a slapshot for the score. The Cats held the Leafs to just four shots on goal during the first period.
The Maple Leafs pulled their goalie with under two minutes to go in the third period. Frank Vatrano lifted a shot from his own goal line into the Toronto cage with 1:46 left.
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