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