TORONTO (AP) — John Tavares scored two power-play goals in the second period, helping the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday night.
Mitch Marner set up three goals, including both of Tavares' scores, and Morgan Rielly, Ilya Mikheyev and Auston Matthews — into an empty net with less than a second remaining — also scored for the Maple Leafs. Petr Mrazek made 33 saves as Toronto won for the second time in three games since the trade deadline.
Brandon Montour and Ryan Lomberg scored for Eastern Conference-leading Florida, which lost for the first time in three games since acquiring Claude Giroux from Philadelphia last weekend. Spencer Knight stopped 18 shots.
The Panthers outshot the Maple Leafs 31-23, but went 0 for 3 with the man advantage.
The Maple Leafs needed only 11 seconds to give the crowd at Scotiabank Arena something cheer about as Rielly redirected a pass from T.J. Brodie for a 1-0 advantage.
The Panthers tied it when Sam Bennett found Montour in the slot and Mountour fired a high shot past Mrazek.
Florida took the lead early in the second when Toronto’s William Nylander had the puck poked off his stick by Eetu Luostarinen, and it went to Lomberg for the go-ahead goal.
Tavares scored his power-play goals 6:02 apart to give the Maple Leafs the advantage again.
Tavares’ first goal came on a rebound from a shot by Marner.
Marner then found Tavares to the side of the net with a sweeping pass for the go-ahead goal.
UP NEXT
Panthers: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.
Maple Leafs: Visit Boston on Tuesday night to take on the Bruins.
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