Panthers 4, Maple Leafs 1
TORONTO -- Jussi Jokinen scored the game's first two goals, both on pucks deflected off the opposition, and the Florida Panthers posted a 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night at Air Canada Centre.
Jaromir Jagr and Teddy Purcell added empty-netters, while Roberto Luongo made 32 saves for his 30th win of the season.
The Panthers (40-22-9) improved to 4-1-1 in their past six games. They now hold a three-point edge on the Boston Bruins for the top seed in the Atlantic Division.
Morgan Rielly scored for the Leafs, who had their two game win streak snapped in the loss. Jonathan Bernier stopped 28 shots for Toronto (24-35-11).
Jokinen was the recipient of a pair of favorable bounces while staking the Leafs to a 2-0 lead.
Florida opened the scoring 24 seconds into the middle period on a power play as Leafs forward Ben Smith redirected Jokinen's pass between Bernier's legs.
The Leafs challenged, unsuccessfully, that the play was offside and lost their timeout in the process. Jokinen's 14th of the season snapped a streak of 16 consecutive penalties killed by the Leafs.
Jokinen doubled the Panthers' lead at 9:22 of the second as his pass attempt hit Leafs center Nazem Kadri and wound up in the net.
Rielly got Toronto on the board at 16:33 of the second period, beating Luongo under his glove with a wrist shot for his eighth of the season. The goal gives the Leafs defenseman a career high for points in a season (30).
The Leafs outshot the Panthers 12-9 in the first period but were unable to solve Luongo.
Michael Grabner had an excellent opportunity to open the scoring at 10:05 of the first as he was sent in all alone by Kadri, but Luongo came up with a big glove save to keep the game scoreless.
Toronto continues its six-game homestand Saturday when it entertains the Buffalo Sabres, while Florida returns home to host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
NOTES: RW Connor Brown became the 10th Maple Leafs player to make his NHL debut this season. Brown was recalled from the American Hockey League's Toronto Marlies on an emergency basis Thursday. ... Leafs C Leo Komarov missed his first game this season because of a lower-body injury. ... Florida assigned D Dylan Olsen to the AHL's Portland Pirates on Wednesday. ... Panthers D Erik Gudbranson missed his second game with a lower-body injury. ... Florida C Derek MacKenzie (fractured foot) missed his third game. ... C Jussi Jokinen (lower body) returned to the Florida lineup after missing a 4-1 win on Tuesday in Montreal.