Maple Leafs try to bounce back at home, win Game 2 against Panthers

TORONTO -- If the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to tie their Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Florida Panthers on Thursday, they must do something they've accomplished just once since the Stanley Cup Playoffs began two weeks ago.

Win at home.

The Maple Leafs lost Game 1 of the best-of-7 series 4-2 on Tuesday and are 1-3 at Scotiabank Arena this postseason. For a team that had 27 home wins during the regular season, fourth-most in the NHL, Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe acknowledged it's becoming a concern.

"Yeah, it is (getting frustrating)," Keefe said after an optional practice Wednesday. "It is a League-wide trend, but it doesn't make you feel any better about it. You're still trying to get it right. It should be a tough place for teams to play and we should be better. We should have more life and more energy, all those kinds of things and we just haven't had that. But it is certainly a topic around here in terms of handling that better."

The Maple Leafs will be back at home to host the Panthers in Game 2 on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS).

RELATED: [Complete Maple Leafs vs. Panthers series coverage]

In contrast to their struggles at home, the Maple Leafs are 3-0 on the road, winning each game at Amalie Arena against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first round.

"No matter where we are playing, we should be able to play the same," Keefe said.

Toronto failed to score on two power plays early in the first period Tuesday but outshot Florida 6-3 by the time Nick Cousins scored to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 9:25 of the first. The Panthers outshot the Maple Leafs 10-3 for the remainder of the period.

"I thought we got off to a fine start last night," Keefe said. "We had some pace, got out of our zone well, we earned the power plays and had a chance to take a hold of the game and didn't and then sort of faded from there. At home you should never fade, and that's the thing that has happened for us. We have to fix that and no better time to do it than [in Game 2]."

When the Maple Leafs did generate offense, they could not solve Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky often enough. He made two saves 12 seconds apart on Auston Matthews with Toronto on the power play midway through the second period to keep Florida ahead 2-1.

Bobrovsky made nine saves in the final 2:30 of the third period with the Panthers leading by two, including a sprawling left-toe save on William Nylander at the top of the goal crease at 18:48, a chance that appeared would be a sure tap-in.

For Nylander, that opportunity was a frustrating end to a night when he had seven shots but failed to score for a fifth straight game. Nylander, who had an NHL-career-high 40 goals in 82 games during the regular season, has 24 shots during the scoring drought, leaving him confident the goals will soon start to come.

"I had a few chances to score last night," Nylander said. "Couldn't score. We had a couple chances in front of the net too, so just need to capitalize.

"[I'm] not too worried. I've had chances to score. Just as long as the chances are there, the goals will come."

Consider Keefe not worried either.

"Just remain confident," Keefe said. "I think a lot of scorers, like I've said many times, they're streaky. Just have to stay with it, keep getting the chances, keep attacking the net, shoot with authority, they'll go in."

Toronto was 0-for-4 on the power play in Game 1, despite Florida having allowed 11 power-play goals, the most in the playoffs through Tuesday.

"You want to capitalize on your opportunities and the looks that you have," Maple Leafs captain John Tavares said. "We didn't get rewarded on the power play, but I thought there was a lot of good habits and things we built there, so it's continuing to stay with that. Even though you feel good about the opportunities or the momentum you built, obviously we have to find a way to up it even to another level."