(Sports Network) - Florida Panthers coach Kevin Dineen knows that getting one
point at a time will only take his club so far.
The Panthers try to secure their first victory in five games on Monday evening
as they take on the streaking Toronto Maple Leafs, who have struggled in this
series as of late.
It has been a silver lining two-plus weeks for the Panthers, who have lost
five of their past eight but have points in seven of those games. They are
3-1-4 in that stretch, but have dropped four straight, including three in a
row in overtime.
Florida got third-period goals from Tomas Kopecky and Jonathan Huberdeau to
take a lead on Saturday over the Tampa Bay Lightning, but yielded the game-
tying goal with 11 seconds left in regulation before suffering a 6-5 setback.
"We're just not finishing," Dineen said. "You're not going to get in the
playoffs with 48 points. You can't try to get a point a game; it's just not
going to work. We've got to find a way a more complete effort and end up with
two points."
Jake Skille, Shawn Matthias and Jerred Smithson added goals and Jose Theodore
made 30 saves for the Panthers, who wrap a four-game homestand on Monday. They
have been without forward Kris Versteeg for the past two games of the
residency because of an upper body injury.
Florida will look to halt its skid on Monday and pick up a sixth straight
victory over the Maple Leafs, who the Panthers outscored 20-9 in sweeping last
season's four-game series.
The Panthers have won eight of the last 10 encounters while the Maple Leafs
have dropped five straight in Florida, having not won there since Nov. 27,
2009.
Toronto, though, comes in charging up the standings and off a 3-0 win over the
Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Making his second straight start in place of
James Reimer (knee), Ben Scrivens posted 34 saves for his first career
shutout.
"So much of the credit obviously goes to the team," said Scrivens. "You can
ask any goalie and they'll tell you that a shutout is a team stat. You don't
get it on your own and I'm extremely thankful to the guys for playing hard for
me."
The undrafted 26-year-old is 3-3-0 with a 2.23 goals against average and .927
save percentage in seven games (6 starts) this season.
Frazer McLaren, John-Michael Liles and Tyler Bozak each scored for the Maple
Leafs, who had a four-game winning streak halted with a 3-1 loss to the
Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
"You're going to have tough games now and then, but we bounced back from the
Carolina loss," said Bozak. "The guys are all real happy with the effort
tonight and we're really happy to get Ben that shutout."
Toronto is two points out of first place in the Northeast Division, while
reigning division champion Florida is five points off the pace in the
Southeast.
The Sports Network