Florida @ Toronto preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 12, 2020 ) Toronto 4, Florida 8

The Florida Panthers’ six-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt after an 11-day break and they look to get going again Monday night against the host Toronto Maple Leafs in an Atlantic Division showdown. The Panthers won six in a row before the All-Star break, but lost 4-0 at Montreal on Saturday and sit two points behind Toronto - a winner of three straight - for third place in the division.

“We’ve got 32 (games) to go,” Florida coach Joel Quenneville told reporters after his team went 0-for-6 on the power play Saturday. “You know how important it’s going to be for both teams. That’s where we’re at. If you want to be a playoff team, you’ve got to do everything you can to find a way to win two points (Monday). That’s going to be our concentration.” Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said his team needs to “bring it to another level” and that’s what it did Jan. 12 when Florida earned an 8-4 victory over the Maple Leafs at home to open the season series. Toronto is playing better hockey now and since the All-Star break the Maple Leafs have knocked off Nashville along with Dallas on the road before coming home to edge Ottawa 2-1 in overtime on Mitch Marner’s goal Saturday. “I thought we stayed with it,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters after the win. “We knew it was going to be a hard game, and it was.”

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: FS Florida, TVA, TSN4

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (28-17-5): Center Aleksander Barkov was scheduled for an MRI on Sunday to gauge the severity of his lower-body injury sustained against Montreal, but Quenneville told reporters Sunday his captain was feeling better. Barkov, who is one point shy of becoming the third player in franchise history with 400, is second on the team in scoring (54 points) behind left wing Jonathan Huberdeau (65). Right wing Evgenii Dadonov tops the team with 23 goals, including nine in his last 11 contests, and left wing Mike Hoffman is tied with him at 40 points - 13 of which came in the past 11 games.

ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (28-17-7): Right wing Kasperi Kapanen, who boasts 10 goals and 28 points, was a healthy scratch Saturday for what Keefe called “internal accountability,” but it is expected to be a “one-time thing.” Marner scored a goal and set up four others during a four-game point streak to boost his total to 51 - 10 behind team leader Auston Matthews, who is among the league’s best with 36 goals to go along with his 25 assists. Frederik Andersen (24-9-6) was victimized for four goals on 12 shots last month at Florida, but is expected between the pipes Monday after stopping 65-of-70 attempts in two wins after the break.

OVERTIME

1. Toronto RW William Nylander boasts five goals and four assists during his current seven-game point streak.

2. Bobrovsky has won four of five decisions overall and is 10-5-0 with a .923 save percentage in his career versus the Maple Leafs.

3. Toronto D Travis Dermott missed Saturday’s contest due to illness and is questionable for the matchup with Florida.

PREDICTION: Maple Leafs 3, Panthers 2