Panthers Beat Maple Leafs For Franchise Record 13th Straight Victory

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Montour scored 2:26 into overtime and the NHL-leading Florida Panthers extended their winning streak to a franchise-record 13 games by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Saturday night.

The winning streak matches the seventh-longest in NHL history and is the league’s longest since Columbus won 16 consecutive games in the 2016-17 season. The victory also marked Florida interim coach Andrew Brunette’s 50th in just 71 games behind the Panthers’ bench.

Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists for Florida, while Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist and Mason Marchment had two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 34 shots.

“We go into games with a lot of confidence,” Giroux said. “I feel after each win, we say we can play better. Everything is going great right now. We’re getting some bounces, making plays and having fun. We just have to keep going.”

Justin Holl and Mitch Marner had goals for Toronto. Jack Campbell finished with 32 saves.

“I thought the guys came out, played hard, overcame a lot of adversity,” Campbell said. “You obviously want to come away with two points, but it is what it is. Just proud of the effort from the guys.”

The Maple Leafs again held an early lead on the Panthers but failed to hold onto it. On April 5 in their last visit, Toronto led Florida 5-1 in the second period but ended up losing 7-6 in overtime. Saturday night, the Panthers fell behind 2-0 after the first period but were able to come back.

“I thought our guys played hard tonight. We easily could have won the game,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I thought we won the first and third period. Against this team, you’ve got to score more than two. That’s what they’ve been doing all season, they find ways to win. … I thought we did more than enough to win.”

Marner scored his 35th goal of the season on Toronto’s first shot of the night at 3:25 of the first period.

With 2:40 remaining, Holl banked a shot off Florida defenseman Radko Gudas which got past Bobrovsky to make it 2-0.

Florida came back and tied the score heading into the third. Barkov got the Panthers on the board with his 39th at 6:26 of the second.

Later in the period, Giroux picked up his third goal with the Panthers since coming over in a blockbuster trade at the deadline.

That set up an intense third period in which both Bobrovsky and Campbell were sharp throughout. Bobrovsky made 12 saves in the third, Campbell nine.

“Bob was great, he is the reason we were where we were,” Brunette said. “We pushed back in the second a little bit, but Bob kept us in. It was a good hockey game between two good teams and it took overtime to decide it.”

Florida’s Jonathan Huberdeau had one assist putting him two points behind Edmonton’s Connor McDavid for the league lead. McDavid is at 116 for the season and the Oilers next play Sunday at Columbus.