Sam Bennett scored power-play goals late in each of the first two periods, Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves and the short-handed Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Thursday night for their seventh victory in eight games.

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 as the visiting Florida Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Thursday night.

Max Domi’s physicality and energy stood out in the Toronto Maple Leafs' matchup against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night, but even his best effort couldn’t push the team past the Atlantic Division leaders.

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.

Max Domi isn’t going to the Toronto Marlies any time soon. But if you let social media commenters control the Toronto Maple Leafs, he would have been long gone ages ago.

The Maple Leafs remain in second place in the division, but Toronto (29-23-3, 81 points) only has a two-point lead over the surging Tampa Bay Lightning (37-23-5, 79 points), with both teams scheduled to play each other one final time on April 9.