The Florida Panthers opened the road-heavy second half of its schedule with a lackluster 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
Disinterested Florida lost the game by surrendering three goals in a 4:25 span running from late in the first period to early in the middle frame.
Toronto opened the scoring off the rush when Morgan Rielly left the puck for Nicolas Roy after gaining the line. Roy crossed down low to Nick Robertson, who fed an open Easton Cowan for the back-door finish with 24 seconds left in the opening stanza.
The Buds would double its advantage 24 ticks into the second. Matias Maccelli dumped the puck off the end boards and after it drifted unclaimed through the slot, John Tavares took possession and sent the puck back to Troy Stetcher at the right point. Stetcher fired a rising shot towards the goal that was deflected in by Matthew Knies.
Auston Matthew, who was stoned by Sergei Bobrovsky on a breakaway in the first, put the Maple Leafs up by three at the 4:01 mark. Knies did the heavy lifting, driving through the slot after receiving a pass from Maccelli before passing back against the grain to Matthews, who buried his 21st of the season.
The Panthers woke up in the third and peppered Joseph Woll with 19 shots. Unfortunately, only one of those went in and that marker went to Carter Verhaeghe who banked the puck off the keeper from below the goal line to break up the shutout bid with 8:22 left in regulation.
Roy would collect his second helper of the night when Bobby McMann nudged the puck into the empty net to complete the scoring.
A mystifyingly poor effort from the Panthers, who failed to build momentum following Saturday’s impressive win over the Colorado Avalanche. The Cats have played the Maple Leafs twice now and laid an ostrich egg in each game, losing by the same score on December 2 in Sunrise. That’s not how to start a road trip. The Montreal Canadiens, who currently own the Panthers, are up next on Thursday.
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