5 TAKEAWAYS: Panthers eager to 'get back to work' after loss in Toronto

TORONTO -Heading home with four out of a possible six points, the Panthers closed out their three-game trip to Canada with a 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday.
Holding a six-point lead atop the Atlantic Division with a record of 44-15-6, the loss marked just the second time this season that the Panthers have lost to a divisional opponent in regulation.

"We got four out of six points," Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said of the trip, which included wins at Montreal and Ottawa. "It's going to be nice to get home, back to our home fans and our home ice, and play solid, fast hockey like we usually do at FLA Live Arena."
Racing out to an early lead in their own barn, the Maple Leafs broke the ice just 49 seconds into the first period when Morgan Rielly made is way down from the blue line to the doorstep, turned around and re-directed shot-pass from T.J. Brodie past Spencer Knight to make it a 1-0 contest.
Answering for the Panthers roughly 10 minutes later, Brandon Montour teed up a pass from Sam Bennett and, while dropping down to one knee, blasted a booming one-timer straight past Petr Mrazek and into the back of the cage to even things up and make it a 1-1 game at 10:11.
Sending the Panthers ahead early in the second period, Ryan Lomberg, an Ontario native who grew up in nearby Richmond Hill, gathered a pass from Eetu Luostarinen and elevated a quick shot over Mrazek and into the top of the twine from inside the left circle to make it 2-1 at 1:27.
Knight finished with 20 saves, while Mrazek made 34 stops.
Cashing in on consecutive power plays, John Tavares put the Maple Leafs back on top later in the middle frame when he netted a pair of goals on the man advantage, both of them coming from right around the blue paint, at 5:10 and 11:12, respectively, to suddenly make it a 3-2 tilt.
"It's going to be like that down the stretch against every team," Weegar said of the back-and-forth nature of the game. "They're an exciting team to play, and we'll be ready to go next time."
Extending Toronto's lead in the third period, Ilya Mikheyev scored on an odd-man rush to make it 4-2 at 9:12. After pulling their goaltender with roughly four minutes remaining in regulation, the Panthers fired off a flurry of shots, but couldn't get anything past Mrazek as time ticked away.
With less than a second left, Auston Matthews buried a long empty-netter to make it 5-2.
"A really good team," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said of the Maple Leafs, who they'll face two more times this season. "We're looking forward to playing them again."
Here are five takeaways from Sunday's loss in Toronto…

1. MONTY'S ONE-TIMER

Montour's never afraid to get involved on offense.
Creeping down into the left circle, the skilled defenseman waited patiently before one-timing a pass from Bennett that beat Mrazek on the short-side to make it a 1-1 game in the first period.

"Good to get a tie going into the second," Montour said.
His eighth goal of the season, Montour needs just one more to match the career-high nine that he potted with the Ducks back in 2017-18. Despite playing on the third pairing, he's notched the third-most points among Panthers defensemen, registering 26 points in just 64 games thus far.

2. LOMBY LIGHTS THE LAMP

Physicality turned into points on this play.
After battling along the end boards, Lomberg headed into the left circle, tracked down a deft tap-pass from Luostarinen and lifted a shot into the net to put the Cats up 2-1 in the second period.

"It would feel a lot better with the win," Lomberg said of his goal.
After missing three weeks with an injury, Lomberg suited up in all three games during Florida's road trip. Adding to the goal that he scored in Toronto, he also racked up eight hits over the course of the trek through Canada, including leading the team's forward with four hits tonight.
Over the 6:24 he was on the ice at 5-on-5, the Maple Leafs registered only one shot attempt.

3. THREE HUNDRED

Noel Acciari reached a nice milestone tonight.
Hitting the ice in Toronto, the hard-nosed forward officially skated in the 300th game of his NHL career. Of those games, 120 have come with the Panthers, who he joined as a free agent in the summer of 2019, while the other 180 took place when he was with the Bruins from 2015-2019.

After having to sit out the first half of the season while recovering from an upper-body injury that he sustained during the preseason, Acciari has posted five points (one goal, four assists) in 13 games since returning to the lineup, while also chipping in 34 hits and eight blocked shots.
Valuable in the faceoff circle as well, he went 5-for-7 (71.4%) in the dot against Toronto.
"We don't have a lot of guys like him," Brunette said. "He's physical, he's heavy on pucks and he's a right-handed center. I find his game has been elevating in the last few [games]."

4. NUMBERS GAME

Both the eye test and the numbers told the story of a tight game at even strength.
At 5-on-5, the Panthers led in shot attempts (34-27) and shots on goals (19-8), but were tied with the Maple Leafs in scoring chances (13-13) and trailed in high-danger shot attempts (4-2). Both teams also had two goals when both sides were even.
"We're going to get back to work and see them down the road here" Lomberg said.
With the action so close at even strength, special teams were that much more important during the matchup as the Maple Leafs went 2-for-2 and the Panthers went 0-for-3 on the power play.
"The game was decided on special teams tonight," Brunette said. "They were better than us at it, and they got the win."
A somewhat off night during an otherwise stellar stretch with the extra attacker, the Panthers rank first in the NHL on the power play since March 1 with a 36.8% success rate in 11 games.

5. HEADING HOME

It's finally time to play some games at home.
After playing nine of their last 10 games on the road, the Panthers will now head back to South Florida to play four of their next six games in front of their own fans beginning with a two-game homestand against the Canadiens (Tuesday) and Blackhawks (Thursday) at FLA Live Arena.
During that 10-game stretch, they posted a 7-2-1 record.
"It was kind of a really tricky trip," Brunette said. "It was basically a nine-game road swing with one home game thrown in. I really liked our road effort night in, night out. We put ourselves in position in all of the road games to get points and win games. That's all you can ask for."
Strong in Sunrise, the Panthers rank first in the NHL in wins (tied-26) and goals (148) at home.