(Sunrise) Kevin Stenlund and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored their first goals for Florida, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 pucks and the Panthers won their home opener by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Thursday.
Stenlund scored with 2:52 left in the first period, Ekman-Larsson made it 2-0 with seven seconds remaining in the first period, and the cushion was enough for Bobrovsky.
Sam Reinhart added a net in an empty cage while shorthanded in the very last second of the match.
Mitch Marner scored his first goal of the campaign, on a power play midway through the second. Ilya Samsonov made 21 saves in the first game of the Maple Leafs’ five-game road trip — the longest of the season.
Samsonov headed to the bench with 2:10 remaining in the third, allowing the Maple Leafs to add a sixth skater. Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov then received a penalty. Despite this six-on-four sequence, the puck never found itself behind Bobrovsky.
Including the playoffs, the Panthers improved to 6-1-1 in their last eight games against the Maple Leafs. The latter scored exactly two goals during the first six duels of this series.
The Panthers took advantage of this first home game this season to highlight their presence in the Stanley Cup final last spring. A banner highlighting their title of champions of the Eastern Association has also been added to the ceiling of the BB
