RECAP: Toronto Maple Leafs 3, Florida Panthers 2

Florida Panthers continue to falter in Atlantic Division title race with Aleksander Barkov joining the long injury report.

The Florida Panthers let another lead slip away and suffered a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs with critical consequences in the Atlantic Division title race.

Florida held its own for as long as it could without captain Aleksander Barkov, who was a late scratch with an upper-body injury, but Toronto was able to pull ahead in the third period.

Mitch Marner scored the go-ahead goal with 9:10 to go in the third period to put the Maple Leafs ahead.

With the loss, the Panthers fall four points behind the Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division. They remain in third place in the division, sitting one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the division.

It’s easier said than done with Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad and Dmitry Kulikov out of the lineup on top of Barkov, but if the Panthers cannot right the ship after letting three-straight close games slip away in the third period.

After a scoreless first period, Gustav Forsling gave the Panthers the lead with a slap shot off of a feed from Sam Bennett 1:03 into the second period.

John Tavares tied the game with a deflection of a William Nylander shot with 8:29 to go in the middle.

Marner beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a quick snap shot off of a feed from Auston Matthews midway through the third period to give Toronto the lead.

Matthew Knies extended the lead to 3-1 with a backhand move on a breakaway with 4:51 to go.

Sam Reinhart fired a wrist shot from the point on the power play past Anthony Stolarz with 2:38 to go to draw Florida back within a goal.

Bobrovsky stopped 23 of 26 shots in the loss in his 750th career game. He became the 24th goaltender in NHL history to hit the milestone.

The Panthers will look for their first win in the third game of their four-game road trip on Saturday afternoon against the Ottawa Senators.