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Leafs earn point in shootout loss to Panthers

November 22, 2017, 11:12 PM ET [221 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs continued a recent trend of slow starts, but rallied to earn a point on the road in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL on Wednesday.

Nick Bjugstad scored in regulation and in the shootout to give the Panthers their eighth win of the season, while Nazem Kadri scored with 6:02 left in the third.

The game was a goaltending duel between Roberto Luongo and Frederik Andersen, who each allowed one goal on 42 shots during regulation and overtime.

"I liked their second, I liked their third, I didn’t think our first was good enough. We kept (Florida) on the outside in the first, but they threw a lot of rubber at the net. I thought we got competing and competed at a high level.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “We had lots of opportunities, (but) Luongo was really sharp.”



Toronto hoped to avoid another sluggish start by shaking up their line combinations to start the game, but in spite of that approach, the Leafs stumbled out of the gate as they did in the loss to Arizona on Monday and were held to a single goal for a second straight game.

The Panthers put 11 shots on Andersen in the opening 8:29 of the first period before Toronto registered their first shot on Luongo. After making a series of difficult stops, the Leafs goaltender was finally beaten by a fluky Bjugstad backhander that deflected off of defenseman Connor Carrick’s skate.

“I think it just comes down to details at the start. You’ve got to set yourself up and do the right things, make the smart plays and kind of give yourself a chance, especially on the road.” Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk said after the game. “Just getting off to those good starts is more about detail and doing the right thing and making the high-percentage play because you know teams at home tend to come with a little extra bounce.”

The Leafs turned on the afterburners trailing in the third and had the Panthers on their heels, pelting Luongo with 23 shots. After a number of good scoring chances, Connor Brown dished to Kadri on a two-on-one break, who roofed it over the veteran netminder for his 11th goal of the season.



In overtime, Auston Matthews had the best scoring chance for Toronto, but was interfered with by a Panthers defenseman and did not draw the call. Babcock indicated after the game that the non-call on the play was "awful".

Matthews, Marner and Tyler Bozak were stopped by Luongo in shootout attempts, with only Patrick Marleau beating the Florida goaltender.

The Leafs and the NHL have US Thanksgiving off and will resume their two-game road trip in Raleigh against the Hurricanes before returning to Toronto to face the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

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