The Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 on Wednesday night, snapping Toronto’s four-game winning streak as the blue and white lost another player to injury.
Carter Verhaeghe finished with two goals and an assist, while Sam Bennett and Aleksander Barkov added a goal and assist of their own. Sam Reinhart and Mackie Samoskevich also scored for Florida.
Mitch Marner scored Toronto’s lone goal.
The game marked the return of several former Panthers players, including Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Steven Lorentz and goalie Anthony Stolarz, who started for Toronto in the loss. The trio won the Stanley Cup with Florida last season.
The Maple Leafs, who entered Wednesday’s game missing several key players, including captain Auston Matthews, were dealt another blow as winger Bobby McMann was forced to leave the game with an upper-body injury and did not return.
His status is unclear.
The good news for Toronto is that Matthews’ return appears imminent, as the captain and star centre skated ahead of Wednesday’s game. He’s tentatively expected to play on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, which would be his first game back since suffering an injury on Nov. 3 against the Minnesota Wild.
The Leafs have also been without Matthew Knies, Max Domi, David Kampf and Max Pacioretty. Calle Jarnkrok has yet to play a game this season after undergoing surgery, while Ryan Reaves continues to serve a five-game suspension.
Of that group, Knies and Domi appear the most likely to join Matthews in returning to game action on Saturday. Toronto has been forced to rely on several young players, notably Fraser Minten and Nikita Grebenkin, while recently signing Alex Nylander, William’s brother, to an NHL deal.
With as many as three players potentially returning this weekend, it’s unclear who will remain with the Maple Leafs and how McMann’s injury impacts those plans.
The Lightning will host Toronto on Saturday, and the Maple Leafs will return home to play Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 2.
