Bobrovsky makes 29 saves, Panthers defeat Maple Leafs in home opener

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves for the Florida Panthers in their home opener, a 3-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Kevin Stenlund each scored his first goal with the Panthers (2-2-0), and Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist.

“His past two games was elite-level goaltending,’’ Florida coach Paul Maurice said of Bobrovsky, who made 31 saves in a 4-3 win against the New Jersey Devils on Monday. “For a veteran goaltender, he realized he needed to step up. Not that he wasn’t good, but to beat this team, you have to be better than average.”

Mitchell Marner scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 21 saves for the Maple Leafs (2-2-0).

“The results were not too great today, but I felt my game was a little bit better,’’ Samsonov said. “I was moving better; they had a couple good shots against us. We don’t have time for crying because there are too many games left on this road trip (four). The sun is up again tomorrow, and we need to think about this game a little bit today and forget about it tomorrow.”

Stenlund gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 17:08 of the first period with a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle. Stenlund played for the Winnipeg Jets last season.

“We will keep working on it and see how it goes in a new season,” Stenlund said. “I saw traffic on net and said, ‘Shoot!’ It went in. I am always trying to work on my game, build every day and get some more offense as it goes along. Today was a good day.”

Ekman-Larsson made it 2-0 with a wrist shot from beyond the circles with seven seconds left in the first. The defenseman signed a one-year contract with the Panthers on July 1 after his contract was bought out by the Vancouver Canucks.

“I didn’t see the first one or the second one,” Samsonov said. “Maybe I need some glasses.”

Marner cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 11:52 of the second period. It was his first goal of the season.

Reinhart scored a short-handed, empty-net goal with one second remaining in the third period for the 3-1 final.

Bobrovsky stopped 13 of 14 shots in the second and all seven he faced in the third.

“It is a process, a long process,” he said. “You try to build confidence in your game, build trust and chemistry with teammates. Support each other.”

Toronto was 1-for-5 on the power play; Florida went 0-for-4.

“I liked a lot about our game. That was probably the best game we have played in as far as the quality of the game,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It was tight, fast and competitive. I thought our guys did a good job defensively and did not give up too much. Their goals came from a distance. We didn’t generate enough offense. Don’t score, you don’t win, and that’s the way it goes.”

Toronto forward Tyler Bertuzzi had one shot on goal in 13:53 of ice time. Keefe said Bertuzzi, who has one goal in four games, is “less than a 100 percent here.”

When asked if Bertuzzi could miss a game, Keefe said, “Possibly. We will have to see. This is something he is dealing with, [but] it is not too severe. But even on the bench, he is trying to stay loose and get ready for his next shift. That is not a good sign to me.”

NOTES: It was Bobrovsky’s 107th win with the Panthers, passing John Vanbiesbrouck for second in franchise history. Roberto Luongo leads with 230. … Florida center Aleksander Barkov won 14 of 22 face-offs (63.6 percent). … Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews was held off the score sheet for a second straight game after he scored a hat trick in each of the first two to start the season. He had five shots on goal but was minus-2 in 24:08.