Fresh off frustrating loss, Panthers in Toronto for big divisional showdown

It’s been a rough few weeks for the Florida Panthers.

After winning seven straight games between late February and early March, the Panthers have sauntered through a 4-5-1 that has seen them leave several points on the shelf.

A team that had been one of the best when it came to locking down late leads has become anything but.

Tuesday night’s debacle in Montreal, which was more the result of a fluky bounce than poor play on Florida’s part, was the latest in a string of frustrating losses that saw the Panthers relinquish a late lead.

Now they’ll have to have a short memory, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as they’ll go to battle with the Toronto Maple Leafs in a game with rather large implications in the standings.

Entering play Wednesday, Toronto holds the top spot in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of Tampa Bay and two clear of Florida.

Each team has eight games remaining on their respective schedules.

Toronto has won six of their past eight games and is fresh off a three-game California road trip that ended with wins in Los Angeles and Anaheim over the weekend.

A win by Toronto would go a long way toward keeping them ahead of Florida for good, though the teams do play again on Tuesday in Sunrise.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Wednesday’s battle in Toronto:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist

A.J. Greer – Nico Sturm – Evan Rodrigues

Gus Forsling – Seth Jones

Niko Mikkola – Nate Schmidt

Tobias Bjornfot – Uvis Balinskis

Scratches: Jonah Gadjovich, Tomas Nosek, Dmitry Kulikov

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