NHL

Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs

· National Hockey League
Florida Panthers
44-27-4
Final
2 - 3
Toronto Maple Leafs
46-25-4

Maple Leafs beat the Panthers 3-2 in an Atlantic Division showdown

Maple Leafs clinch playoff spot for 9th year in a row

John Tavares and Matthew Knies also scored to help division-leading Toronto wrap up a playoff spot and and move three points ahead of Tampa Bay and four in front of Florida. Marner and Knies also had assists.

Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist for defending Stanley Cip champion Florida. Gustav Forsling also scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots.

Takeaways Panthers: Florida was without captain Aleksander Barkov (upper-body injury) after he was hurt Tuesday night in a 3-2 overtime loss in Montreal. The club also continues to play without star forward Matthew Tkachuk (lower-body injury) and defenseman Aaron Ekblad, (20-game suspension).

Maple Leafs: Tavares has 15 goals in 20 games since the 4 Nations Face-Off to lead the NHL. The 34-year-old pending unrestricted free agent has 36 goals in in 68 games this season.

Key moment Marner made it 2-1 with 9:10 left after Bobrovsky, who stopped Bobby McMann on a breakaway moments earlier, couldn’t squeeze the initial shot off the stick of Auston Matthews.

Key stat Matthews needs one goal to become the fifth player in franchise history with at least 30 in their first season as captain. He would join Rick Vaive (54), Darryl Sittler (41), Mats Sundin (33) and Dave Keon (32).

Up next Both teams play Saturday night. The Panthers are at Ottawa. The Maple Leafs host Columbus.

Regular Season Series

FLA leads series 2-1

Scoring Summary

Goal 2nd Period 1:03 Gustav Forsling Goal (10) Slap Shot, assists: Sam Reinhart (41), Sam Bennett (25)
Goal 2nd Period 11:31 John Tavares Goal (36) Tip-In, assists: William Nylander (38)
Goal 3rd Period 10:50 Mitch Marner Goal (24) Snap Shot, assists: Auston Matthews (40), Matthew Knies (25)
Goal 3rd Period 15:09 Matthew Knies Goal (26) Backhand, assists: Mitch Marner (69), Jake McCabe (21)
Goal 3rd Period 17:22 Sam Reinhart Goal (37) Wrist Shot, assists: Mackie Samoskevich (15), Seth Jones (24)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/fla.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originFLA https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/tor.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTOR
7 Blocked Shots 21
39 Hits 25
3 Takeaways 2
31 Shots 26
1 Power Play Goals 0
2 Power Play Opportunities 1
50.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
25 Faceoffs Won 23
52.1 Faceoff Win Percent 47.9
23 Giveaways 13
1 Total Penalties 2
2 Penalty Minutes 4
Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto Maple Leafs Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
William Nylander, RW Day-To-Day Dec 13
Dakota Joshua, C Day-To-Day Dec 13
Marshall Rifai, D Injured Reserve Dec 12
Chris Tanev, D Injured Reserve Dec 12
Brandon Carlo, D Injured Reserve Dec 12
Florida Panthers Florida Panthers Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Matthew Tkachuk, LW Injured Reserve Nov 26

Game Information

Scotiabank Arena

Location: Toronto, ON
Attendance: 19,066 | Capacity:

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Tampa Bay 18 11 38 2
Boston 19 13 38 0
Detroit 17 12 37 3
Montreal 16 11 35 3
Toronto 14 11 33 5
Florida 15 13 32 2
Ottawa 14 12 32 4
Buffalo 13 14 30 4
Full Standings