Dawn, Fla. (AP) — Kevin Stenlund obtained his 1st purpose as a member of the Florida Panthers, then finished the night with a little bit of blood coming from a minimal slash on the still left side of his face.
Completely summed up the night for the Panthers, who acquired a scratch-and-claw win in their property opener.
Stenlund and Oliver Ekman-Larsson got their to start with Florida targets, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 photographs and the Panthers served their goalie by blocking a barrage of pictures in the remaining minutes on the way to topping the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 in a playoff rematch Thursday night.
“Everybody was placing their bodies on the line,” Panthers ahead Matthew Tkachuk claimed. “That’s quite significant. We observed what it was like last calendar year. We got in (the playoffs) by a person position and these points make any difference.”
Stenlund scored with 2:52 still left in the to start with, Ekman-Larsson created it 2- with seven seconds still left in the opening interval and that was more than enough for Bobrovsky. Sam Reinhart added a small-handed empty-internet aim as time expired.
Mitch Marner scored his initially aim of the period, coming on the ability participate in, midway through the 2nd period for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov produced 21 will save for the Maple Leafs, who opened a period-very long 5-game street journey.
“The result was not fantastic right now,” Samsonov reported.
Samsonov went to the bench with 2:10 still left for an additional attacker, and Florida captain Aleksander Barkov was called for a penalty with 1:09 remaining — giving Toronto a 6-on-4. But nothing at all bought to Bobrovsky the rest of the way, and Florida held on.
“There were a several blocks in a row, massive blocks, vital blocks,” Bobrovsky mentioned.
Like playoffs, Florida improved to 6-1-1 in its last eight games in opposition to the Maple Leafs. Toronto had scored accurately two goals in just about every of the first seven conferences in that span.
Presented that it was the household opener, there have been the predicted nostalgic reminders for the Panthers, to commemorate very last year’s operate to the Stanley Cup Final. The new Eastern Meeting championship banner was displayed to admirers for the to start with time and spotlighted in the pregame ceremony, together with a emphasize movie from final spring.
“It’s surely a minor bit of a indicator of the success that you experienced last year and it is absolutely no little feat that was large-time for us to get that and keep transferring the needle with this business and maintain owning achievement,” Tkachuk claimed. “We know what the past piece of the puzzle is soon after very last yr, to end the job.”
There was an additional reminder of final spring’s playoff run — “We want Florida” chants from the Panthers fans, a nod to how Toronto fans chanted the very same prior to Florida ousted Boston in a Spherical 1 amazing upset of the team that had just posted the best typical time in NHL record. The Panthers then beat Toronto in five game titles in Spherical 2.
The Panthers — who drew a sellout group of 19,288 — entered the night time as one particular of 4 teams nonetheless to enjoy their household opener this period. Colorado was also making its house debut for the season Thursday, though Chicago and Arizona really do not open their residence slates right until Saturday.
NOTES: It was Bobrovsky’s 107th win as a Panther, breaking a tie with John Vanbiesbrouck for next-most in franchise history. Roberto Luongo has the club report with 230. … A pregame moment of silence was held for these impacted and killed pursuing Hamas militants attacking Israel previously this thirty day period, with the Maple Leafs and Panthers jointly mourning the loss of daily life. … Barkov and Reinhart assisted on Ekman-Larsson’s purpose for Florida. Stenlund’s was unassisted. … John Tavares bought his sixth guide of the year on Marner’s intention, and William Nylander acquired his fourth.
UP Future
Maple Leafs: Stop by Tampa Bay on Saturday.
Panthers: Host Vancouver on Saturday.
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