Maple Leafs slow down Panthers’ NHL-best offense to deal Florida first loss of Giroux era
On the final night of their three-game swing through Canada, the Florida Panthers were on the wrong side of a comeback.
Their offense was unusually stagnant. Their newcomers were, for the first time since joining the Panthers at the trade deadline, entirely shut out. It was, somehow, their first meeting of the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs -- a potential first-round postseason opponent -- and the Maple Leafs managed to knock Florida off its usual rhythm to hand the top team in the Eastern Conference a 5-2 loss at the end of a two-part, seven-game road trip.
“They slowed us down pretty good,” star defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said.
After it took a 2-1 lead in the first two minutes of the second period, Florida (44-15-6) didn’t score again for the final 38:33, while Toronto (41-19-5) stormed back with a pair of second-period power play goals, a third-period goal on a 2-on-1 and a last-second empty-net goal to hand the Panthers their most lopsided loss since February.
It also left them with their first loss since trade-deadline acquisitions Claude Giroux, Ben Chiarot and Brandon Hagg all joined the team last week. Florida won its first two games with the newcomers by rallying to beat the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday and the Ottawa Senators in a shootout on Saturday. It also ended a three-game road winning streak for the Panthers.
Florida, however, remains in sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference and is six points ahead of everyone else in the Atlantic.
Still, the Maple Leafs solved the Panthers, if only for one night. Florida’s 20 scoring chances were tied for its third fewest of the season and its six high-danger chances were tied for its second fewest. The Panthers, who have the league’s best rush offense, only had two rush attempts all game.
“They slowed us down,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said.
Even Giroux, who had been a driving force of the offense since debuting for Florida on Thursday, couldn’t manage anything. In his first two games, he tallied nine shots on goal and four assists, including one on the game-tying goal in the final three minutes Saturday.
On Sunday, the All-Star forward had just two shot attempts — and none on goal — and didn’t get on the score sheet in any manner.
The game wound up a defensive struggle and Toronto, with the NHL’s most efficient power play, had the upper hand.
For two periods, the Maple Leafs and Panthers traded blows in front of 18,819 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, even if those high-quality chances were rare.
The Maple Leafs went up 1-0 in the first period when star defenseman Morgan Rielly deflected a shot past goaltender Spencer Knight, and Florida hit back with two straight goals by defenseman Brandon Montour and left wing Ryan Lomberg to go ahead 2-1 with 18:33 left in the second.
After Toronto had seven of the first eight scoring chances, the Panthers had the next seven to take the lead.
The Maple Leafs, however, answered the Panthers’ two-goal response with one of their own. Toronto center John Tavares scored twice on the Maple Leafs’ league-best power play in the final 15 minutes of the second period to give Toronto a 3-2 lead heading to the third.
Florida never recovered. Although Florida managed a push at the start of the third period, Toronto shut it down when Maple Leafs winger Ilya Mikheyev finished a 2-on-1 with 10:48 to go to give Toronto the first multi-goal lead of the game.
“The game was decided on special teams tonight,” Brunette said, “and they were better than us on it.”
This story was originally published March 27, 2022 at 9:43 PM.
