TORONTO - Bryan McCabe came back to haunt his former team Tuesday, scoring 3:30 into overtime as the Florida Panthers came back to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3.
McCabe raced up the left wing and had his slapshot trickle through Vesa Toskala's arm and just over the goal-line for his 10th goal of the season.
Gregory Campbell, Stephen Weiss and Cory Stillman also scored for Florida (24-18-8), which trailed 3-1 heading into the final period.
Niklas Hagman, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Nik Antropov replied for Toronto (19-23-9).
The Maple Leafs appeared on their way to a three-game winning streak until the final minute of the third period. Stillman tied the score 3-3 with 52.7 seconds to play when he swooped in and lifted a rebound over Toskala on a power play.
Until that point, Toronto had led most of the game.
Hagman's goal to open the scoring was all about determination. He slipped the puck between Nathan Horton's legs, outmuscled Jassen Cullimore to work his way in front of the goal before and slid it around Craig Anderson at 10:52 of the first period.
It was the 14th goal of the season for Hagman.
The Panthers briefly tied the game when Campbell knocked a rebound behind Toskala at 18:53, but Ponikarovsky soon restored the advantage. He buried a rebound with less than 20 seconds to play in the frame after Jason Blake had a wraparound attempt stopped.
Antropov gave the Leafs even more breathing room early in the second period. Anderson let a huge rebound out on Anton Stralman's shot before Antropov scored at 2:11. While it was a goal the Panthers netminder would like to have back, he might have been rusty after not getting a start since Jan. 4.
The 3-1 lead is the same one the Leafs built in Saturday's win over Pittsburgh. The similarities didn't end there.
Rookie defenceman Luke Schenn once again got the fans excited when he hammered Radek Dvorak in almost the exact same spot he pasted Penguins star Evgeni Malkin three days earlier.
The deja vu continued.
Weiss cut into Toronto's lead 2:21 into the third period after taking a great cross-ice pass from Stillman. An early third-period goal on Saturday helped fuel a Penguins rally.
The Panthers nearly tied it a few minutes later but Karlis Skrastins had his point shot ring loudly off the post, but they kept on coming and got rewarded.
Notes: Florida improved to 8-2-4 since Jan. 1 ... Blake and Dominic Moore each extended their point streaks to five games ... Leafs defenceman Mike Van Ryn played his first game against the Panthers since they traded him over the summer ... Ryan Hollweg was scratched from Toronto's lineup for the ninth straight game ... Announced attendance was 19,095.
