Huberdeau gets his latest milestone, and the Bobrovsky-less Panthers beat Toronto

The Florida Panthers had already put the game out of reach on Sunday, but the two moments down the stretch were just as meaningful.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored a goal late in the second period and assisted on a Mike Hoffman power-play goal in the third period to break Olli Jokinen’s franchise record for career points as the Panthers routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 8-4 at the BB&T Center.

Huberdeau tied Jokinen’s mark when he took a feed from Aleksander Barkov in front of the Maple Leafs net, weaved slightly to his right and buried the puck past goaltender Michael Hutchinson. Barkov quickly embraced his linemate to the right of the net immediately after he scored.

The record-setting moment and Huberdeau’s 420th career point came with 15:27 left in regulation when he dished the puck across the ice to Hoffman in the right circle. Hoffman buried the puck into the net with a slap shot for his second goal of the game.

A tribute video played on the jumbotron above center ice during a third-period timeout to commemorate Huberdeau’s achievement.

“It’s cool,” Huberdeau said. “Another great night. Couldn’t ask for better. Overall, the team played really good. Big win. We knew we needed it tonight and on top of that, [making] history is pretty cool.”

The euphoria of the moment capped a needed win for the Panthers (24-16-5) against an Atlantic Division foe and moved them that much closer to holding a top-three spot in the division. Florida’s 53 points are one behind the Maple Leafs for that third-place spot and has them in the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot, one point ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets.

And even with starting goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky being a late scratch, the high-octane Panthers had no problem defending home ice.

They had a five-goal lead before Toronto got on the board and extended the lead to 7-1 before the Maple Leafs went on a three-goal flurry between the end of the second period and start of the third.

Their eight goals were the most this season, topping their previous best of seven that came against the Dallas Stars on Dec. 20. Thirteen players had either one goal or assist, with Barkov (one goal, two assists) and Vincent Trocheck (one goal, two assists) each picking up three points.

“I liked our approach,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. “I thought we had an excellent start to the game and came out of that first period in good shape. The second period we were in a perfect spot and doing what we wanted to do and all of a sudden they had a little bit of a chance there to get back in the game. In the third I thought we’ve got some work to do. That power-play goal settled things down a bit. Very positive in the way we prepared and competed and had a lot of purpose behind our game.”

Chris Driedger stopped 42 of 46 shots that came his way to improve to 5-2-0 in his seven starts this year. His start was a last-minute change on Sunday with Bobrovsky being a scratch with what the team is calling an upper-body injury that occurred midway through Thursday’s win over the Vancouver Canucks. Quenneville said pregame Sunday that Bobrovsky “should be” ready to go against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday to close Florida’s four-game homestand.

“I thought he did very well,” Quenneville said. “He had a great start to the game and then all of a sudden it’s a 7-4 game in the third and he did what he had to do to get the win. He did a fine job with a lot of shots. They test you almost every single shift with something at the net and traffic. He did what he had to do.”

He also had the advantage of playing with a lead from the start.

Josh Brown, Barkov and Hoffman scored in the first 15 minutes to build a quick three-goal lead.

Mike Matheson extended the Panthers’ lead to four 49 seconds into the second period, forcing the Maple Leafs (24-16-6) to pull goalie Frederick Andersen for Hutchinson. Andersen gave up four goals on 12 shots.

Hutchinson didn’t fare much better, giving up four goals of his own in just over 39 minutes of action.

Frank Vatrano added a short-handed goal, Trocheck scored unassisted on an odd-man rush and then Huberdeau hit his backhander to give Florida a 7-1 lead with 7:22 left in the second period.

Zach Hyman opened scoring for Toronto, poking in a rebound past Driedger 3:30 into the second period at the end of a power play. Mitchell Marner and John Taveras cut into the Panthers’ lead with back-to-back goals late in the second to make Florida’s advantage 7-3 after two period.

“We know they’re a good team,” Huberdeau said. “I thought we had a great start, great second as well. They came back a little bit, but we still stuck with it. We played well. Obviously, when everybody gets some points, we’re one of the best teams in the league. That’s how we’ve got to play to be in the playoffs.”

Marner added a second goal 34 seconds into the third period to cut Florida’s lead to three goals, but Hoffman’s power play goal — aided by Huberdeau’s record-setting assist — put the Panthers back up 8-4.

“I didn’t know that he was going for the record, but obviously he was pretty excited afterward,” Hoffman said. “And it’s a good accomplishment. Obviously a great player. I saw Huby when he was 16 years old in junior and you could tell right from then he was going to be a special player. He’s worked hard and blossomed into one of the best in the league.”

This and that

▪ The Maple Leafs had a goal called off late in the third period due to a high stick from Cody Ceci.

▪ Panthers forward Brian Boyle played in his 800th career NHL game on Sunday.

▪ Quenneville said defenseman MacKenzie Weegar will likely be out at least through the All-Star Break.