Panthers snap five-game losing streak with win over Maple Leafs

Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald on Apr 8, 2025

Published in Hockey

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The Florida Panthers’ losing streak is over.

Eetu Luostarinen scored the go-ahead goal 1:04 into the third period and the Panthers never looked back in a 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena in a game that could serve as a preview for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Florida, which had lost five consecutive games entering Tuesday, improves to 45-29-4. Toronto saw its four-game win streak snapped and falls to 47-26-4 but with 98 points still holds a two-point lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning (45-26-6, 96 points) for the lead in the Atlantic Division with five games left to play for both teams. Florida, at 94 points with four games left, is third in the divisional standings.

The Panthers went 3-1-0 in the regular-season series against Toronto, also winning 5-1 on Nov. 27 and 3-2 on March 13 before falling 3-2 on April 2.

Luostarinen scored the game-winner, his ninth goal of the season and the 50th of his career, on a backhanded shot from close range that snuck past Toronto goaltender Joseph Wall.

Defenseman Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida on a wrist shot from the point off an Anton Lundell face-off win 9:26 into regulation. Carter Verhaeghe capped scoring with an empty-net goal with 47 seconds left — snapping a season-long 13-game stretch without a goal.

John Tavares scored for Toronto 1:06 into the second period, but Sergei Bobrovsky stopped the other 17 shots he faced from the Maple Leafs to secure the win.

Florida continues its four-game homestand Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings. After that, it’s the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and New York Rangers on Monday before the Panthers end the regular season April 15 at the Lightning.

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