Maple Leafs beat Panthers to move out of last place

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If you can’t beat ’em in the playoffs, send ’em to the basement.

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Eliminated by the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup playoffs in two of the last three years, the Maple Leafs put the two-time defending Cup champions in an embarrassing spot on Tuesday night.

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Toronto beat Florida 4-1 to move out of last place in the Eastern Conference, at the same time leaving the Panthers scraping along the conference bottom.

The Leafs played smart hockey and with urgency to improve to 4-7-0 on the road. They’ve won two in row for the first time since winning three in a row from Nov. 1-5.

Woll solid, but still plenty of work to do

The Leafs are 3-1-0 on their trip, which finishes on Thursday night in Carolina against the Hurricanes, but still have a hill to climb. Toronto is three points out of third place in the Atlantic Division and four points shy of the second wild card spot in the conference.

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Joseph Woll had another solid night in the Leafs net and made 26 saves. Sergei Bobrovsky was sharp for the Panthers, making difficult saves on Nicolas Roy and Bobby McMann in the third period.

Bobrovsky couldn’t stop a determined Scott Laughton, however. Laughton got his first point of the season when he went to to doorstep and scored after some fine work on the forecheck by Nick Robertson.

John Tavares scored into an empty net.

The goal came with less than eight minutes left and sealed the win.

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Oliver Ekman-Larsson failed in his quest to tie Tom Kurvers’ franchise record for longest point streak by a defenceman. Ekman-Larsson’s streak ended at nine games, one short of the 10-game mark set by Kurvers in 1989-90.

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For the third consecutive game, the Leafs scored on their first shot on goal.

A point shot by defenceman Troy Stecher got through a screen and fooled Bobrovsky at 5:24 of the first period. It was Stecher’s first goal with the Leafs since he was claimed off waivers from Edmonton on Nov. 15.

Just 2 1/2 minutes later, Dakota Joshua drove to the net and finished after taking a pass from McMann. It was Joshua’s second goal in as many games.

Sam Reinhart, playing in his 800th NHL game, scored short-handed for Florida at 14:43 to cut into the Toronto lead. The Leafs’ five-forward power-play unit, with Auston Matthews on the point, was exposed as it couldn’t get organized in the defensive zone before Reinhart scored.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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