SUNRISE Luke Schenn Jersey Womens , Fla. (AP) — Vincent Trochek’s return gave the Florida Panthers the spark they desperately needed.Mike Matheson scored the winning goal and Trocheck had an assist on the play to help the Panthers snap a seven-game losing streak by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Friday night.Trocheck returned to the Panthers’ lineup after missing 27 games with a broken ankle suffered on Nov. 19 against Ottawa.“It was awesome. Never felt better,” Trocheck said. “Just thankful that I’m able to come back and play hockey again. It’s been a long time coming.”Trocheck was scheduled to come back after the All-Star break but the 27-year-old was having none of that, apparently demanding to return as early as possible.“I don’t know. I’ve been pushing for a while,” Trocheck said. “The day it happened I gave Dave (DiNapoli, the team trainer) a date. I said Jan. 21st is my date that I was going to come back.” After Thursday’s practice the team decided to make the move.Mike Hoffman and Frank Vatrano also scored for Florida. Roberto Luongo made 20 saves and Luongo moved within four wins of tying Ed Belfour (484) for third place on the NHL’s all-time wins list.“It’s a huge boost for our club,” Luongo said of having Trocheck back. “We didn’t think he was going to play Womens Niklas Hjalmarsson Jersey , but just having him at practice yesterday, it really got the boys jacked up. It was nice to see him in the lineup and contributing.The Panthers took a 2-1 lead when Trocheck passed to Matheson at the point and he one-timed a shot that beat Sparks with 5:01 left in the first.“It was a great play by Troch to have the awareness to stop up and put it on a tee for me,” Matheson said.Ron Hainsey scored for the Maple Leafs have lost six of their last nine. Garret Sparks stopped 26 shots in his first start since Dec. 29th.“I’m just happy to get back in the net,” Sparks said. “I just wanted to show up tonight and give us a chance to win. I wasn’t able to make that extra save tonight but moving forward these are games I feel I can win.”The Leafs were in the second of back-to-back games, coming off a 4-2 win at NHL-leading Tampa Bayon Thursday night. Florida had not played since a 5-1 loss at Montreal on Tuesday.“I thought they were better than us at the start. It took us a while to get our legs going,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “Now with Trocheck and Bjugstad (who returned last Sunday) back they’ve got a good team here. We knew it was going to be hard coming in and we would have liked to have been better.”Vatrano’s empty-net goal with 1:49 left capped the scoring.“I think we’re starting to turn the corner John Moore Jersey Womens ,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “We have a long way to go but tonight was 20 guys doing their job and everybody contributing.”The Leafs jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Hainsey’s goal 1:49 in. Hainsey took a pass from Morgan Rielly at the blue line and fired the puck through traffic past Luongo.The Panthers tied it 1-all on Hoffman’s team-leading 23rd goal. Keith Yandle took a shot from the blue line and Hoffman redirected the puck past Sparks at 9:02 of the first.NOTES: Panthers D Josh Brown made his NHL debut. “You dream about that moment all your life. I’m just happy we got the win.” … D MacKenzie Weegar has been placed on injured reserve. … Forward Juho Lammikko has been loaned to AHL Springfield.UP NEXTMaple Leafs: Host Arizona on Sunday.Panthers: Visit Nashville on Saturday. WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Blake Wheeler knows the Winnipeg Jets don’t panic when they fall behind.That mindset paid off again Thursday night when Kyle Connor scored with 1:14 remaining to give the Jets a 4-3 victory over the slumping Columbus Blue Jackets.“We’ve done it enough this year that we have a lot of confidence that we know we don’t have to change our game,” Wheeler said. “We can continue to play the same way for 60 minutes.“We’re going to generate enough chances. It’s just a matter of finishing them. Some nights they’re going to go in, and some nights they’re not.”Winnipeg won its sixth consecutive home game and handed the Blue Jackets their four straight loss overall. The Jets also came from behind to beat the Bruins 4-3 in a shootout at Boston on Tuesday.Mark Scheifele scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season for the Jets, with Wheeler getting his 54th assist. Mason Appleton and Jack Roslovic also scored, and Jacob Trouba had two assists.Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves in the opener of a three-game homestand.Artemi Panarin got his 20th goal and added an assist for Columbus. Josh Anderson had a power-play goal and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored. Seth Jones contributed a pair of assists.Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 22 shots for the Blue Jackets.“It (stinks) to lose that way in the last minute Zach Bogosian Jersey Womens ,” forward Nick Foligno said. “Guys played really hard, played to our identity tonight and (it) just doesn’t sit well with me getting scored on late like that.”Connor was coming off a change when he took a pass from Bryan Little and beat Bobrovsky over his stick.“The puck got rimmed down low to Bryan and he made an incredible pass on his backhand there and found me in the slot,” Connor said. “Just tried to get it off quick.”Columbus leading scorer Cam Atkinson was hit in the face by a puck during warmups and replaced by Mark Letestu. Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella had no update after the game.Despite the loss, Tortorella was satisfied with his team’s performance.“I thought our guys rallied together and played a good game,” he said.The Blue Jackets led 2-1 after the first period and 3-2 after two, but Roslovic tied it at 8:47 of the third when his hit shot went into the corner with 17 seconds left on a Winnipeg power play.Winnipeg killed off a penalty with six minutes left and then Bobrovsky made a big save on Mathieu Perreault.Wheeler helped open the scoring after a Columbus turnover when he set up Scheifele for a one-timer that beat Bobrovsky at 4:34 of the first.Ryan Murray sent the puck between the skates of a Winnipeg defender right to Panarin’s stick and he fired it over Hellebuyck’s glove to tie it at 8:52. Panarin has a three-game point streak with a pair of goals and three assists.Anderson got the go-ahead goal on a power play when Panarin found him in the slot at 13:30.Appleton made it 2-all when his backhand hit Bobrovsky and trickled under the netminder at 13:21 Scott Wedgewood Jersey Womens , but 57 seconds later Bjorkstrand regained the lead for the Blue Jackets.UP NEXTBlue Jackets: Home against St. Louis on Saturday.Jets: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.