Monday, April 1, 2024

Maple Leafs Hold Off Panthers

     The Florida Panthers begin their road trip of the 2023-24 regular season as they fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4 at Scotiabank Arena on Monday night. It was the first contest of a four-game road swing for the Panthers. The Maple Leafs are four points behind Florida for second place in the Atlantic Division. 
     Toronto(43-22-9) scored their first two goal in a 2:38 time span for a 2-0 lead. Matthew Knies intercepted a pass at the top of the Leafs zone and made a lead pass up the middle. Nicholas Robertson went on a breakaway from the neutral zone and got his 12th goal of the year on a wrist shot from the top of the crease by Sergei Bobrovsky with 6:01 left in the first. 
     The Maple Leafs increased it to 2-0 with 5:28 to go in the period. Auston Matthews won the faceoff in the left circle and drew it back. T.J. Brodie skated the puck from the left point to around the Panthers cage. He sent a pass from the right goal line and Matthews tapped it in from the left side of the crease for his 61st goal of the season. Matthews now has an eight-game point streak. 
     Florida(47-23-5) closed it to 2-1 just 47 seconds into the second. Brandon Montour fired a slap shot for his seventh goal of the year. Carter Verhaeghe got the only assist on the play. 
     The Maple Leafs expanded their lead to 5-1 by the end of the second period. They picked up goals from Tyler Bertuzzi at 1:28, David Kampf at 8:32 and Knies at 14:05. 
     The Panthers attempted to climb back in the contest during the third period. Vladimir Tarasenko got his 22nd goal at the 2:12 mark and Sam Reinhart piled on his 52nd goal of the season at 11:58. The Cats pulled their goalie with around five minutes to go. Sam Bennett scored his 17th goal with 1:50 left and cut it to 5-4. 
     Toronto put the game out of reach with 45.9 seconds left in the third and made it 6-4. Matthews released a shot from his own blue line into an empty net for his second tally of the contest and 62nd goal this season. 

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