Sam Bennett continues to prosper from his Four Nations Faceoff experience with Canada and the absence of stud Florida Panthers teammate Matthew Tkachuk.

The game marks the first of three meetings between the Maple Leafs and Panthers in the final five weeks of the season. They'll face each other again in Toronto on April 2 followed by a matchup six days later at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla.

Sam Bennett scored two power-play goals to lift the shorthanded Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

The Maple Leafs had a chance to leapfrog the Panthers into first place in the NHL’s Atlantic Division on Thursday night but blew an early lead and fell to Florida 3-2 at Scotiabank Arena. The loss leaves Toronto four points behind the reigning Stanley Cup champions with 16 games remaining in the regular-season.

Cutting into the deficit for the Maple Leafs in the third period, Max Domi, shortly after a power play had expired for Toronto, sniped a shot from the slot to make it 3-2 at 4:26. From there, Sergei Bobrovsky shut the door.

The Maple Leafs take on the Florida Panthers in a battle for first in the Atlantic! You won’t want to miss Alexandra Beacock's parlay for tonight’s game. Market: <a href="