Panthers snap four-game losing streak in front of familiar foes with 5-1 rout of Maple Leafs

What a way to treat old friends.

On Wednesday morning, prior to Toronto’s morning skate, the Florida Panthers awarded 2024 Stanley Cup rings to three players who are now with the Toronto Maple Leafs: goalie Anthony Stolarz; defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and center Steven Lorentz.

On Wednesday night, the Panthers whistled pucks past Stolarz and held Ekman-Larsson and Lorentz pointless in a 5-1 win.

“It was nice to see them,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said of the three players who helped the Panthers lift the Stanley Cup to end last season. “We saw them in the morning. During the game, they got the standing ovations that they deserve. They did an unbelievable job last year. They did everything they could to help us win the Cup. It was a lot of fun to see them.

“But, during the game, I don’t think anyone said a single word to each other.”

Instead, the Panthers let their play speak on Wednesday as they snapped an uncharacteristic four-game losing streak that obviously didn’t sit well with this proud team.

Carter Verhaeghe led the way with one goal and two assists. Barkov had one goal and one assist. And the other goals came from Sam Reinhart, Mackie Samoskevich and Sam Bennett (empty-netter).

Reinhart, who leads the NHL with 17 goals, has scored nine times off of Barkov assists.

“We read well off each other,” Reinhart said. “We both have a tendency to slow it down when we get the puck, but as long as we keep moving our feet.”

Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves — four more than Stolarz — to get the win against his former teammate.

“He’s a good guy,” Bobrovsky said of Stolarz. “I saw him this morning. I congratulated him. It was great to play against him.”

The Panthers played without center Anton Lundell, who was hit in the face with a puck Monday against Washington.

Toronto, which had its four-game win streak broken, got a goal from Mitch Marner. He leads the Leafs with 29 points, and he has five goals and four assists in his past four games.

The Leafs played their ninth straight game without Auston Matthews, who has an upper-body injury. Toronto is 7-2-0 without Matthews, who has led the NHL in goals in three of the past four years.

Florida got the only two goals of the first period, and they came just 50 seconds apart.

First, Barkov scored on a one-timer, power-play goal from the right circle off a pass from Aaron Ekblad.

Less than a minute later, the Panthers scored on a rebound by Samoskevich. Eetu Luostarinen got the primary assist.

Each team scored one goal in the second period.

First, Florida scored on a short-handed rush as Barkov stole the puck before dropping it back to Reinhart, who beat Stolarz to the blocker side from the high slot.

Toronto got on the board 87 seconds later on Marner’s power-play goal.

But Verhaeghe roofed a shot for a power-play goal of his own with 5:23 left in the third, giving Florida 4-1 lead.

Bennett scored an empty-net goal with 1:28 left to ice the game.

“We have been trying to get our identity back,” Barkov said. “It all comes from hard work – being simple, being physical. That’s our game, and I think we did that pretty well, especially in the first, and then we finished strong.”