RECAP: Florida Panthers 3, Toronto Maple Leafs 1

The Florida Panthers snapped their five-game losing streak in Aleksander Barkov’s return to the lineup.

SUNRISE, Fla. — For the first time in the better part of two weeks, the Florida Panthers truly looked like themselves again.

With Aleksander Barkov back form a three-game absence, and Gustav Forsling and Sam Reinhart coming off of a rest day, the Panthers took down the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1, on Tuesday night.

Eetu Luostarinen’s goal 1:04 into the second period made the difference, but for the first time in a while, it was a full 60-minute effort that won the game for Florida.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 17 of 18 shots to snap his personal three-game losing streak.

The Panthers came roaring out the gate, outshooting the Maple Leafs 14-5 while dominating puck possession and pressuring them on the forecheck as they have been known to do.

Gustav Forsling opened up the scoring with a quick snap shot off of an offensive-zone face-off win by Anton Lundell 9:26 into the first period.

John Tavares tied the game 1:06 into the second period, beating Bobrovsky with a quick wrist shot off the rush, but the second period was more of the same for Florida.

The Panthers outshot the Maple Leafs 14-9, they did not force anything that was not there and they kept things tight defensively.

Luostarinen restored Florida’s lead early in the third period, capitalizing off of a Morgan Reilly turnover and jamming home a wrist shot from the front of the net.

Carter Verhaeghe snapped his 13-game goal drought with an empty-net goal with 47 seconds remaining to give the Panthers a 3-1 cushion.

The Panthers still trial Toronto by four points for the Atlantic Division crown with four games remaining on its schedule. It is unlikely they catch up to the Leafs at this point, but they made up some ground in other areas.

Florida’s cushion for the third seed in the division is back up to four points after the Ottawa Senators suffered a regulation loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. The Panthers sit two points behind Tampa Bay with an extra game played after the Lightning sat idle.

The Panthers will continue their final homestand of the regular season on Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings.