Florida tops Toronto with a grinding performance from all four lines and their high flying defensive corps.
As the Florida Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs take the ice in Sunrise, the Blue and White clad crowd nearly outnumber the Florida faithful.
First Period:
It didn’t take Florida long to get on the board, as Erik Gudbranson scored his second goal of the season on a hard slapshot from the right point. Tim Kennedy was awarded an assist on the play.
The Panthers were controlling play throughout most of the first period, as the Leafs didn’t get their first shot on goal until Cody Franssen fired a wrister at Jose Theodore at the nine minute mark of the period.
A loose puck in front of the Florida net almost led to a tying goal by David Steckel at the ten minute mark, but Theodore somehow kept the puck from crossing the goal line.
The Leafs went on the power play with five minutes left in the first period when Jason Garrison was called for hooking Matt Frattin. Toronto managed to get two shots on goal, but no payoff.
Second Period:
Just two minutes into the second, the Leafs evened the score up when Mikhail Grabovski scored his ninth of the season top shelf on Jose Theodore, with assists by Cody Fransson and Nikolai Kulemin.
It would take Florida 19 seconds to reestablish their one goal lead, as Bill Thomas led a breakaway and fanned on the shot but the puck went in anyway for his first goal of the season, with assists by Evgeny Dadonov and Mark Cullen.
Florida went on the power play when Keith Aulie cross checked Tim Kennedy at the 17 minute mark. On the resultant man advantage, Jason Garrison scored his 11th goal of the season to chase James Reimer, who allowed three goals on his first seven shots. Brian Campbell and Michel Repik collected assists on the play.
Florida went on a five-on-three power play after Mikhail Grabovski slashed Dmitry Kulikov and the bench was called for too many men just 40 seconds later.
The Panthers went up 4-1 with the two man advantage when Kris Versteeg scored his team leading 17th goal of the season. Brian Campbell and Tomas Kopecky got the helpers on the play.
Dion Phaneuf made it 4-2 with a wrister from the right faceoff circle for his fifth goal of the season, with assists from Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul at the halfway mark of the second.
The teams traded chances for the rest of the period, but the score would remain 4-2 into the second intermission.
Third Period:
Brian Campbell was called for holding Carl Gunnarsson at the three minute mark. Florida equalled Toronto over the next two minutes, as the Cats engineered two odd man rushes to challenge Jonas Gustafsson, while the Maple Leafs twice kissed the Panthers goal post, but neither team could net a payoff goal.
Florida were again called for a penalty when Tomas Fleischmann received a questionable hooking penalty on Tim Connolly at the eight minute mark. After allowing the Panthers two more shorthanded chances, the Maple Leafs halved Florida’s lead to 4-3 on Mikhail Grabovsky’s second goal of the night and tenth of the season when he inadvertently kicked the puck in the net with 11 minutes left in regulation. Clarke MacArthur earned the assist on the play.
Tomas Fleischmann put the lead back at two on a hesitation move which froze Gustafsson with eight minutes left in the game.
Florida were again shorthanded on a delay of game penalty with seven minutes left. Kris Versteeg led another odd-man rush, the Panthers fifth shorthanded odd-man rush of the period.
Toronto iced the goaltender with 2:30 left in regulation in favor of the extra skater, but after a stoppage in play had to skate back out before parking it for good after the faceoff. Tomas Kopecky almost added an empty netter but put it off the post.
Hits: Toronto, 32-22 (Dion Phaneuf led all skaters with six while Matt Bradley led the Panthers with three).
Blocked Shots: Florida, 14-8 (Jason Garrison paced all players with four)
Faceoffs: Florida, 31-21 (Even with Stephen Weiss out, Florida dominated the faceoff circle, led by Tim Kennedy’s 6 of 8 and Mark Cullen’s 5 of 7).
Shots On Goal: Toronto, 32-26 (Michel Repik logged six shots on goal leading everyone, and was initially credited with two of Florida’s goals).
Score: Panthers 5, Maple Leafs 3
For more on this matchup, go to the Florida Panthers dedicated blog, LitterBoxCats.
Just two minutes into the second, the Leafs evened the score up when Mikhail Grabovski scored his ninth of the season top shelf on Jose Theodore, with assists by Cody Fransson and Nikolai Kulemin.
It would take Florida 19 seconds to reestablish their one goal lead, as Bill Thomas led a breakaway and fanned on the shot but the puck went in anyway for his first goal of the season, with assists by Evgeny Dadonov and Mark Cullen.
Florida went on the power play when Keith Aulie cross checked Tim Kennedy at the 17 minute mark. On the resultant man advantage, Michel Repik Scored his first goal of the season on a redirect of a Jason Garrison slapshot to chase James Reimer, who allowed three goals on his first seven shots. Brian Campbell also collected an assist on the play.
Florida went on a five-on-three power play after Mikhail Grabovski slashed Dmitry Kulikov and the bench was called for too many men just 40 seconds later.
The Panthers went up 4-1 with the two man advantage when Kris Versteeg scored his team leading 17th goal of the season. Brian Campbell and Tomas Kopecky got the helpers on the play.
Dion Phaneuf made it 4-2 with a wrister from the right faceoff circle for his fifth goal of the season, with assists from Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul at the halfway point of the second.
The teams traded chances for the rest of the period, but the score would remain 4-2 into the second intermission.
Hits: Toronto, 27-13
Blocked Shots: Florida, 9-7
Faceoffs: Florida, 21-14
Shots On Goal: Toronto, 24-17
Score: Florida 4, Toronto 2
As the Florida Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs take the ice in Sunrise, the Blue and White clad crowd nearly outnumber the Florida faithful.
It didn’t take Florida long to get on the board, as Michel Repik scored his second goal of the season on a redirect of a hard slapshot from Erik Gudbranson from the right point. Tim Kennedy was also awarded an assist on the play.
The Panthers were controlling play throughout the first half of the first period, as the Leafs didn’t get their first shot on goal until Cody Franssen fired a wrister at Jose Theodore at the nine minute mark of the period.
A loose puck in front of the Florida net almost led to a tying goal by David Steckel at the ten minute mark, but Theodore somehow kept the puck from crossing the goal line.
The Leafs went on the power play with five minutes left in the first period when Jason Garrison was called for hooking Matt Frattin. On the man advantage, the Cats cleared the puck out four times while allowing the Leafs to get two shots on goal, but no payoff.
Hits: Toronto, 13-8
Blocked Shots: Tied, 4-4
Faceoffs: Florida, 10-3
Shots On Goal: Toronto, 11-4
Score: Florida 1, Toronto 0
Keaton Ellerby will get to watch from the press box as the healthy scratch and Jose Theodore will take the ice between the pipes for the Cats in tonight’s matchup. Tonight’s lines, according to NHL.COM:
MAPLE LEAFS
Joffrey Lupul – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Clarke MacArthur – Tim Connolly – Nazem Kadri
Matt Frattin – Mikhail Grabovski – Nikolai Kulemin
Darryl Boyce – David Steckel – Joey CrabbKeith Aulie – Dion Phaneuf
Jake Gardiner – Luke Schenn
Carl Gunnarsson – Cody FransonJames Reimer
PANTHERS
Tomas Kopecky – Mike Santorelli – Kris Versteeg
Tomas Fleischmann – Shawn Matthias – Matt Bradley
Krys Barch – Tim Kennedy – Michal Repik
Evgenii Dadonov – Mark Cullen – Bill ThomasJason Garrison – Brian Campbell
Dmitry Kulikov – Mike Weaver
Ed Jovanovski – Erik GudbransonJose Theodore
Theodore stopped 38 of 39 shots in the Panthers 5-1 victory over Toronto earlier this season.
Florida will be hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs at Bank Atlantic Centre tonight in Sunrise. This is the second of four meetings between the Eastern Conference (and future "Conference 3") rivals. This will be the first time of two they will meet in Florida. Florida is 8-3-5 at home this season, while the Maple Leafs are10-8-0 on the road. Florida will be opening a three game homestand, and go on to host the New York Rangers on Friday night and the Montreal Canadians on New Years Eve. The Leafs are playing in the first game of a three game roadtrip. They go on to visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night and the Winnepeg Jets on New Years Eve.
The last time the two teams met was November 8th in Toronto. The Panthers beat the Maple Leafs, 5-1 as Jack Skille and Marco Sturm each scored their first goals of the season for Florida and Sean Bergenheim, Tomas Kopecky and Shawn Matthias added markers in the win. Jose Theodore saved 38 of 39 shots in the victory. The night finished with the Panthers at 7-4-3 and the Leafs at 9-5-1.
Panthers @ Maple Leafs 11/08/11 (via NHLVideo)
Maple Leafs @ Islanders 12/23/11 (via NHLVideo)
Season Series: 1-0-0
All-Time Series: 21-24-12
Game Time: 7:30 EST
Standings:
Florida Panthers: 18-11-7, 43 points, first Southeast Division, third Eastern Conference, 10th NHL, on pace for 98 points.
Toronto Maple Leafs, 18-13-4, 40 points, second Northeast Division, sixth Eastern Conference, 13th NHL, on pace for 94 points.
Injuries:
Goaltenders:
Kevin Dineen always plays it close to the vest, and tonight's game should prove no exception. Jose Theodore (13-8-4) and Scott Clemmensen (3-0-2) are his options. Jonas Gustavsson (9-6-0) and James Reimer (7-3-3) are the available goaltenders for the Leafs.
Forwards: Due to injury, over half of Florida's forwards are unable to perform in tonight's matchup. The Panthers have the equivalent of two full AHL lines, as well as defenseman Erik Gudbranson on the fourth line as a checking forward in the starting lineup.
1. Fleischmann - Matthias - Bradley
2. Kopecky - Santorelli - Versteeg
3. Repik - Kennedy - Barch
4. Gudbranson- Thomas - Dadonov
Defense:
1. Campbell - Garrison
2. Jovanovski - Ellerby
3. Kulikov - Weaver
Common Thread:
Ed Jovanovski's next goal will be his 32nd, which will move him into a tie for 32nd with Richard Zednik. His next assist will give him 60 with the Panthers, tying him with Dave Lowry, in 28th.
Mike Santorelli's next goal will be number 25 as a Panther, moving him into a tie with Mike Van Ryn in 44th place all-time.
Shawn Matthias' next goal will give him 22, moving him past Brett McLean into 47th.
Dmitry Kulikov's next assist will give him 51 for his career, moving him past Niklas Hagman into 38th place. One more point for Kulikov will give him 63, moving him past Dave Gagner into 47th place.
Stephen Weiss is second all-time with 230 assists, one less than Olli Jokinen.
Team Leaders:
Goals:
Tomas Fleischmann - 12
Stephen Weiss -11
Jason Garrison - 10
Assists:
Brian Campbell -24
Tomas Fleischmann - 19
Points:
Kris Versteeg - 37
Stephen Weiss -32
Tomas Fleischmann - 31
Brian Campbell - 27
Plus/Minus:
Stephen Weiss - plus-18
Kris Versteeg - plus-16
Tomas Fleischmann - plus-11
Jason Garrison - plus-8
For more on this matchup and all of your Florida Panthers needs, check out SB Nation's dedicated Panthers blog, at www.litterboxcats.com.
Video Highlights Of The Panthers 5-3 Victory Over The Maple Leafs
Maple Leafs @ Panthers 12/27/11 (via NHLVideo)
Dec 28 1:11p by Kevin Kraczkowski