SUNRISE, Fla. — If the Toronto Maple Leafs ever bless their fans with a snowbird series in Florida, the games will be up for grabs and the entertainment value should be off the charts.
Do you enjoy goals? Ten-bell saves?
How about hits? Superstars? Broken records?
Wild shifts in momentum and surprise plot twists?
The Maple Leafs’ wild back-to-back in the Sunshine State featured some high-event, high-octane, high-anxiety hockey.
Call it a potential playoff preview.
Call it a collapse.
Call it a comeback.
Or simply call it a fun night at the rink.
The only thing Toronto’s hectic 7-6 overtime loss to the top-seed Florida Panthers Tuesday did not provide was a dull moment.
Starting goalies Sergei Bobrovsky and Erik Källgren were each excellent — and perfect at even-strength — during a back-and-forth first period that ended 1-1 on the strength of power-play goals by Sam Reinhart and William Nylander, rebounding from illness.
Period 2 was an altogether different and untamed beast.
Mitch Marner whipped up his magic early, scoring the Leafs’ league-leading 13th shorthanded goal, following that up with a power-play strike 37 later — the shortest span between a PK and PP goal ever. (Mario Lemieux held the previous record at 47 seconds, in 1989.)
By the time Colin Blackwell converted on a beautiful 5-on-5 rush sequence, the visitors had scored three goals on three shots on three strengths in 94 seconds on Bobrovsky.
Enter Spencer Knight.
A healthy Jake Muzzin sniped next, getting on the board in his first appearance in more than six weeks.
In a blink, the Maple Leafs led 5-1… against the team with the most comeback wins.
Naturally, Florida scored the next four, including Claude Giroux’s first as a Panther; five points from Jonathan Huberdeau, giving him 102 on the year; and a brutal long-range shot from Radko Gudas that slipped through Källgren.
Källgren left the mayhem late in the second after taking a Robert Hagg shot off the lower portion of his face mask, tagging in a cold Jack Campbell. (Källgren would return to the bench in the third.)
Aleksander Barkov seemingly ended the madness midway through the third, and FLA Live exploded when the home team clawed back 6-5.
But a John Tavares power-play goal tied the thing again.
Then Huberdeau scored the OT dagger.
“This back-to-back within Florida, with Tampa and the Panthers, it’s been like a flashing light in the schedule all season,” Sheldon Keefe had said.
The shade of that light?
Red.
Fox’s Fast 5
• Maple Leafs lead the NHL with 13 bench minors.
• With a pair of power-play markers, Sam Reinhart set career highs in goals (26) and points (68) Tuesday. He’s a plus player for the first time in his NHL career and bound for his first postseason — eight years after being drafted second overall by Buffalo.
• The four Atlantic powers, head-to-head: Maple Leafs 5-1-1; Panthers 4-2-1; Bruins 3-3-1; Lightning 3-5-1.
• Keefe says scratching Ilya Lyubushkin made for a tough decision.
“We truly have seven guys that cannot just play every night but play in any situation. That’s a big factor here,” said the coach, in favour of internal competition.
“We love what Boosh has brought to us, so he’ll be back in before long.”
• The Maple Leafs have faced the Panthers twice now… and Joe Thornton hasn’t participated in either game. April 23 will be the final shot a revenge match.
