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 But the Panthers' power play has been showing improvement.
The Panthers scored on their first two power plays of the game on
Tuesday and it proved to be just enough to defeat the Toronto Maple
Leafs 3-2.
"We were moving the puck around very well, made some really nice
plays and scored some nice goals, so that was the difference for our
team tonight - the power play came up huge," said Panthers
goaltender Roberto Luongo who made 15 of his 27 saves in the third
period.
The Panthers took a 3-1 lead into the third and held on despite
being outshot 16-1 in the period, limiting the Maple Leafs to a
power play goal by Phil Kessel with 50 seconds left in the game.
"I think overall our demise was the turnovers at both blue lines,
penalties and our penalty killing, especially early, was too passive
and we kind of gave them some opportunities there," Maple Leafs
interim coach Peter Horachek said. "Penalties, we've got to be a
little more disciplined."
Left winger Jussi Jokinen scored a goal and added an assist, and
defenseman Brian Campbell had two assists for the Panthers.
Center Nick Bjugstad and right winger Jimmy Hayes also scored for
the Panthers (25-19-12), who snapped a three-game winless streak in
the opener of a five-game road trip.
Center Tyler Bozak and Kessel scored for the Maple Leafs (23-30-5),
who led briefly in the first period before losing their fourth game
in a row.
Goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 14 saves for Toronto.
"There wasn't a lot of offense from either team and special teams
were definitely the key and we had two power-play goals," Panthers
coach Gerard Gallant said. "We played hard, we played well."
The Panthers are in the thick of the playoff race.
"That was our goal at the beginning of the year, we wanted to be in
the race," Gallant said. "We're in the race right now and we've got
to keep playing hard. When we're playing well we've got a chance to
beat anybody, we've proven that the last couple of weeks. The guys
are working hard and we're getting great goaltending."
The first three goals of the game were on the power play, two of
them by the Panthers, who had a 3-1 lead after two periods. The
Maple Leafs had a 16-1 edge in shots on goal in the third period and
had Bernier out of the goal for an extra attacker for most of the
final three minutes.
Kessel scored his 22nd goal of the season on a power play at 19:10
of the third.
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The Maple Leafs broke on top with a power-play goal at 4:03 of the
first period on the 16th goal of the season by Bozak. Center Nazem
Kadri passed to left winger James van Riemsdyk, who was parked just
to the right of the net behind the goal line, and he fed Bozak in
the low slot. Bjugstad was serving a tripping penalty.
Jokinen tied the game for Florida on a power-play goal at 19:14 of
the first period. Jokinen scored his fifth goal from the low slot on
a pass from right winger Brad Boyes with defenseman Petter Granberg
serving an interference penalty.
Bjugstad scored his 21st goal of the season from the low slot on a
power play at 4:42 of the second period to give the Panthers a 2-1
lead. Left winger Tomas Fleischmann set up the goal by circling
behind the net before passing to Bugstad as Toronto center Leo
Komarov served a holding minor.
"Special teams were a big part of the outcome," said Maple Leafs
center Olli Jokinen (no relation to Jussi), who played his first
game with Toronto after being acquired in a trade on Sunday. "That
was the story tonight."
Hayes deflected a shot from the left point by defenseman Brian
Campbell at 13:48 of the second period for his 17th goal of the
season to put the Panthers into a 3-1 lead.
NOTES: Toronto recalled C Sam Carrick from the AHL Marlies before
the game, then returned him to the minors after the game. ... C Olli
Jokinen made his Maple Leafs debut on Tuesday after arriving as part
of a trade Sunday that sent D Cody Franson and RW Mike Santorelli to
the Nashville Predators. ... The Panthers put D Willie Mitchell
(upper body) on injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 3 and C Brandon
Pirri (upper body) on IR retroactive to Feb. 10. D Dmitri Kulikov is
serving a four-game suspension for his hit on Dallas Stars C Tyler
Seguin last Friday. ... The Maple Leafs were without D Dion Phaneuf
(hand), LW Joffrey Lupul (upper body) and C Trevor Smith (upper
body). Toronto recalled C Sam Carrick from the AHL Marlies. ... The
Maple Leafs visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. The Panthers
play the second game of a five-game road trip on Thursday against
the Montreal Canadiens.
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