Music: {allcanada} Panthers beat reeling Maple Leafs 5-3

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

{allcanada} Panthers beat reeling Maple Leafs 5-3

TORONTO -- Two teams heading in opposite directions continued on their respective paths as the Florida Panthers rode a fast start to a 5-3 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada on Tuesday night.

Florida, which got two goals by Mike Santorelli, won its third in a row and remained three points ahead of Washington in the race for first place in the Southeast Division. The Panthers gained two points on Winnipeg, which now trails by four and has played three more games than Florida.

In contrast, the Leafs finished a four-game homestand with an 0-3-1 record and dropped to 1-8-1 in its last 10 games. They dropped four points behind eighth-place Washington in the race for the last playoff berth in the East.

The Panthers scored on their first two shots against James Reimer, as goals by Marcel Goc and Santorelli gave Florida a 2-0 lead just 2:21 into the game. By the time Jason Garrison made it 4-1 by rifling Jake Gardiner's clearing attempt into the net over a sprawled Reimer at 4:38 of the third period, the outcome was all but decided and the crowd of 19,420 let its displeasure be known.

Nikolai Kulemin and Joffrey Lupul sandwiched third-period goals around one by Stephen Weiss to get the Leafs within two, but it was not nearly enough.

After the quick start by Florida, the Leafs spent the night trying to play catch-up.

They made it 2-1 at 10:46 of the second period Phil Kessel rolled off the boards and fired a shot from the faceoff dot to the right of Jose Theodore that beat him high to the far side. Joffrey Lupul provided a solid screen in front of the net. It was Kessel's 32nd goal of the season, equaling his total last season.

The goal came with Weiss in the box for goaltender interference. Prior to the call, the Panthers had a 2-on-0 down low in the Toronto zone and Reimer came up with two big saves. Weiss was the third man trying to pry the puck loose when Reimer froze it and was sent off for two minutes.

After Kessel's goal, Theodore prevented Toronto from tying the game when he jammed his right pad against the post to prevent Matt Frattin from banging home a loose puck from the side of the net.

Santorelli restored the Panthers' two-goal lead at 13:54 with Clarke MacArthur in the box for boarding Keaton Ellerby. Tomas Fleischmann fired a close-in shot that Reimer stopped, but Joey Crabb was unable to stop Santorelli from getting to the front of the net and banging home the rebound.

It was Santorelli's first two-goal game since Nov. 20, 2010.

The Leafs got off to a nightmarish start they would never fully recover from, allowing a goal 13 seconds into the game on a defensive breakdown. Luke Schenn was unable to handle a pass from Gardiner, allowing Wojtek Wolski to break in on net and feed Goc in the slot. Goc wired one past Reimer for his sixth of the season.

Goc replaced injured Tomas Kopecky in the lineup. Kopecky suffered what GM Dale Tallon called a "minor lower-body injury," most likely aggravated during the morning skate. Goc was supposed to return from his own lower-body injury on Thursday but decided he was ready to go once Kopecky went down.

The fans jeered after the Leafs allowed the early goal, and they were even more upset after Florida scored again at 2:21. Jack Skille was given a wide birth down right wing and fed an onrushing Santorelli, who was wide open down the middle as he took the pass and beat Reimer.

The Maple Leafs thought they had cut the lead to one with 26.7 seconds to go in the period, but Lupul was ruled to have kicked the puck into the net and the goal was waived off. After receiving a good pass from Kessel from the half boards, Lupul twirled and tried to kick the puck up to his stick. While he was not able to get his stick on it, the puck slid under Theodore and after a quick review it was ruled no goal.

Leafs defenseman Mike Komisarek played in his first game since Feb. 15 and made his presence felt early in the game, laying out Krys Barch on a rush in the Toronto end.