The Toronto Maple Leafs continued their strong stretch on Tuesday night, getting goals from unexpected places in a 4–1 victory over the short-handed Florida Panthers. Troy Stecher and Scott Laughton each scored their first goals of the season, Dakota Joshua had a goal and an assist, and the Leafs won for the third time in their last four games.

Bobby McMann chipped in with two assists, while captain John Tavares sealed the win with an empty-netter in the final seconds. Toronto improved to 3–1 on its current road swing, which wraps up Thursday in Carolina.

Stecher opened the scoring in the first period, capitalizing on a defensive breakdown to give Toronto early momentum. Joshua doubled the lead in the second, finishing off a feed from McMann during a sustained offensive-zone shift.

The Panthers briefly clawed back into the game when Sam Reinhart converted a short-handed chance for his 14th goal of the season, slicing Toronto’s lead to 2–1. Reinhart jumped on a turnover and beat the Leafs on the counterattack, giving Florida a spark in an otherwise challenging night.

But the game ultimately belonged to Toronto’s depth players. With 7:42 remaining, Laughton restored the two-goal cushion by burying a rebound in front, silencing the home crowd and deflating Florida’s late push. Tavares’ empty-netter with 18.6 seconds left closed out the scoring.

Florida has now dropped four of its last five games — and four straight on home ice — as injuries continue to reshape the lineup.

The Panthers were once again without a long list of long-term absences, including Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Dmitry Kulikov, Eetu Luostarinen and Tomas Nosek. Carter Verhaeghe also missed the game while awaiting the birth of his child.

With the depth chart stretched thin, Florida inserted Jack Studnicka, who made his Panthers debut and played his first NHL game since April 2024. Despite flashes of energy from the bottom six, the Panthers struggled to generate sustained pressure and were outmatched in transition by Toronto’s balanced attack.

Tuesday’s matchup marked the first meeting between the teams since their heated second-round playoff series last season. That series saw the Maple Leafs hold leads in multiple games only to watch Florida surge back, winning the final two matchups in Toronto by identical 6–1 scores en route to claiming their second straight Stanley Cup.

This time, with Florida’s stars sidelined and Toronto’s secondary scoring stepping up, the rematch carried a very different tone.

Maple Leafs: Visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, closing out their six-game road trip.

Panthers: Host the Nashville Predators on Thursday in the fourth game of a six-game homestand.

Toronto heads into Thursday with momentum — while Florida looks to stop a skid before it widens any further.