SUNRISE, Fla. – Rostislav Olesz and Olli Jokinen scored in the first period to help the Florida Panthers beat Toronto 4-2 on Thursday night, snapping the Maple Leafs’ three-game winning streak.

Ed Belfour, who played the previous three seasons with Toronto, stopped 23 shots. Joel Kwiatkowski scored on a breakaway for Florida and Chris Gratton added an empty-net goal with 36.9 seconds left.

Jean-Sebastien Aubin lost for the first time since joining the Maple Leafs in March, dropping to 10-1-3. He made 39 saves and fell to 1-1-1 this season.

The victory was Jacques Martin’s 450th as an NHL head coach. He became the 13th coach to reach the milestone.

Toronto’s Bryan McCabe scored on a slap shot at 7:19 of the third to end Belfour’s shutout bid. It was McCabe’s second goal. Mats Sundin scored his sixth goal at 14:09 of the third.

Florida lost the previous six meetings dating to March 9, 2004, while being outscored 21-10 overall.

Kwiatkowski scored unassisted on a breakaway down the left side at 3:19 of the third to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead. It was Kwiatkowski’s third goal.

Goals by Olesz and Jokinen gave Florida a 2-0 lead after one period. The Panthers took 23 shots, a season high for a period.

Olesz scored his first goal, at 1:07, when he backhanded in the rebound of Ruslan Salei’s shot from the right point. Jokinen scored his sixth goal when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Nathan Horton at 10:03.

Notes: Jokinen has 13 points in seven home games. … Toronto has played back-to-back games three times this season, and has split all three times. The Maple Leafs won at Tampa Bay on Wednesday night. … Florida right wing Todd Bertuzzi underwent lower back surgery and will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days.

AP-ES-11-02-06 2214EST



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