TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers both shuffled out of Buffalo with poor losses to the Sabres in the past few days.

The Leafs lost Saturday in Buffalo, and the Panthers followed that up with a loss on Monday.

The Maple Leafs had a couple of more days to think about their loss and they took it out on the Panthers on Tuesday night with a 3-2 victory.

The Panthers had only three shots in the first period when they fell behind 2-0 and never recovered.

"I thought once we got going in the second and third we were fine," Panthers general manager and acting coach Tom Rowe said. "At the beginning of the first we were good. Then we got away from it and they took over and they had a lot of good chances."

Leo Komarov and Zach Hyman each scored a goal and added an assist, and Auston Matthews scored his 35th goal of the season for Toronto (36-24-15) to set a team record for rookies.

"I thought we were real good in the first, obviously," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "Our power play wasn't as good in the second and that gave them some momentum. We weren't as good with the puck."

The Maple Leafs retained a one-point lead on the Boston Bruins for third place in the Atlantic Division.

Reilly Smith and Jaromir Jagr scored for the Panthers (33-32-11), who have lost two in a row.

Curtis McElhinney made 25 saves in the Toronto goal.

It was the 50th career win for the 33-year-old backup goaltender.

"It took a little while, but it feels good," McElhinney said. "It was a nice win."

"Mac had a real good night for us," Babcock said.

"He stepped in and made key saves for us," Hyman said. "Throughout the game, he was really solid. That's what we need. He was great."

The Panthers had a different view.

"Their goaltender made some saves he didn't know he made, he had some luck going on his side," Rowe said. "That's the way it goes sometimes. We didn't shoot the puck enough."

Florida goaltender James Reimer stopped 12 of 14 shots before he left with a head injury in the second period when bumped by Toronto's Brian Boyle. He was replaced by Retro Berra, who stopped 10 of 11 shots.

Rowe said he had no update on Reimer's status.

The Maple Leafs took a 3-1 lead at 3:32 of the third period on a short-handed goal by Hyman with Matt Martin serving a roughing penalty. Komarov's pass found Hyman at the blue line and he went in to beat Berra.

Martin and Alex Petrovic had been sent off with fighting majors at 3:21 with Martin also picking up a minor.

Jagr scored his 15th goal of the season on a power play at 19:04 of the third.

Matthews scored at 11:54 of the first period. Hyman passed from behind the net to Matthews in the low slot.

Wendel Clark held the previous Toronto rookie record with 34.

"It's awesome to help the team win and I'm just trying to do my part," Hyman said. "You just got to give (Matthews) in the puck in areas, and he'll put it in the net. He's done it a lot this year. It's special to see him play that record."

William Nylander also picked up an assist to extend his team rookie record consecutive games point streak to 12.

An uncovered Komarov had plenty of time to slap home his 13th goal of the season from the right circle on a pass from Connor Brown at 14:43 of the first period.

Reimer left the game at 11:07 of the second period after Boyle his head hit Boyle whom was skating past him. Florida's Colton Sceviour fought behind the goal. Each received majors, and Boyle also received a slashing penalty. Berra replaced Reimer.

"Probably not the start we wanted, we knew it was a big game for them," Panthers captain Derek MacKenzie said. "I thought the guys did a pretty good job getting ourselves us back in the game. I thought it was great to see (Sceviour) stick up for (Reimer). There were a lot of positives there but, obviously, a 3-1 deficit against a team like this is tough to come back from."

Smith scored his 14th goal of the season at 15:31 of the second period to cut Toronto's lead to 2-1, redirecting a pass to the low slot from Keith Yandle, who had two assists in the game.

NOTES: Maple Leafs G Frederik Andersen (upper-body injury) is listed as day-to-day after leaving Toronto's 5-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. G Curtis McElhinney started Tuesday, and his backup was G Garret Sparks, who was called up from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. ... Toronto had D Roman Polak back in the lineup after he served a two-game suspension for an illegal hit. ... With Toronto LW Josh Leivo (undisclosed) and RW Nikita Soshnikov (upper body) injured, the Leafs called up RW Kasperi Kapanen from the Marlies. ... The Maple Leafs start a three-game road trip Thursday when they visit the Nashville Predators. ... The Panthers play the third game of four straight on the road on Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens.