TORONTO (AP) — Troy Stecher and Scott Laughton each scored their first goals of the season, Dakota Joshua added a goal and an assist, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Bobby McMann had two assists for Toronto, which has won three of its last four. John Tavares added an empty-net goal with 18.6 seconds left.
Sam Reinhart scored his 14th of the season — a short-handed goal in the second period for Florida. But Laughton scored with 7:42 remaining to restore the two-goal lead for Toronto.
Florida has lost four of its last five games and four straight at home.
It was the first meeting between the teams since the second round of last season’s playoffs, when Toronto won the first two games and held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in Game 3 before losing in overtime on a goal by Brad Marchand, who had been traded to Florida midseason. The Panthers went on to win Games 5 and 7 in Toronto by 6-1 scores and captured their second consecutive Stanley Cup.
