“I think the biggest thing when you’re in a new environment is figuring out your role,” Tkachuk said. “Once you figure that out, that’s when you can start kind of perfecting it, I guess you could say. I think everybody is starting to slot in and fit, especially with these guys out right now.”
Getting Toronto on the board, Mitch Marner sent a rebound past Sergei Bobrovsky from just outside the left side of the blue paint to trim Florida’s lead to 2-1 at 11:52 of the second period.
Weathering a storm late in the game, Bobrovsky made one of his biggest stops of the night when he robbed John Tavares with 1:13 left in regulation. With the puck floating through the air in front of the net, the Maple Leafs captain tried to bat it into the cage, but was simply denied.
Shortly after, the Maple Leafs earned a power play.
Facing down a 6-on-4 advantage after Toronto pulled its goaltender, the Panthers refused to back down as Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola each stepped up with monumental blocks.
And after Stenlund laid out to make one final block and clear the puck out of the zone, Sam Reinhart potted the empty-net goal to lock in a 3-1 win.
“You will always have adversity,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “You’ll always have two or three guys out of your lineup. We just started the season with four playoff teams, and I’ve liked three of our four games. In the last two, they were elite offensive teams, and we had to scratch and claw. It wasn’t perfect. It’s not going to look pretty, but the understanding and acceptance by your leadership that you can’t be casually wading into the first part of the season is critical.”
In addition to his 29 saves, Bobrovsky also made history.
By backstopping the Panthers to, as he always says: “another big two points,” the two-time Vezina Trophy winner took over second place on the franchise’s all time wins with 107.
