The fearsome Florida Panthers came to town, and the Leafs got the better of them, holding a 3-2 lead through the third for the win. Here are your takeaways.

1. Mitch Marner is beyond ready. Tell me with a straight face you're going to send this kid back to junior after two more games. Marner has already shown a level of energy and vision that suggest he's going to be a top forward in the NHL. He had three assists on the night, and all of them were more than well-earned; his dogged persistence and ability to thread needles to make passes were on full display. If I have to pick one: his seeing-eye whirling pass on the third goal is one of the highlights of the Leafs' terrifying/exciting early season.

Zooming out a bit--the shot attempt profiles of JVR and especially Tyler Bozak suggested this would be a trio that wasn't much defensively but that could occasionally explode. Tonight they exploded. Marner was doing the lion's share of the offensive work, but JVR's ability to finish and, yes, Bozak's underrated ability to know where to go in the o-zone paid out. (And not for nothing, but the three of them all finished above 58% in score and venue-adjusted Corsi...and Bozak was the best of them.)

2. The rest of the forwards were a mixed bag. Nylander and Matthews had a meh night by their exalted early standards, being held off the scoresheet for only the second time this year and finishing underwater in SVA. (Zach Hyman somehow finished way better than the two of them, because he is Zach Hyman and his life does not follow ordinary rules.) Seth Griffith had an energetic performance in limited work with offensively limited linemates (which is not to blame Martin and Smith, who did their jobs well enough tonight.) He's worthy of a higher role, but the Leafs, somewhat surprisingly, have more offensive talent than they have room for up front.

The Kadri line took on the Panthers' first line in a matchup battle--the Marchessault-Barkov-Jagr trio--and struggled somewhat. Still, I wouldn't blame any of the forwards on either of Marchessault's two goals against, which had unusually clear people to point at in each case.

3. The goals against. The first goal was a damning setback for those of us who want to see Rielly-Zaitsev get more play. Rielly attempted a pass through the neutral zone that Jaromir "Methuselah" Jagr picked off and then turned around for a two-on-one. Nikita Zaitsev went full deer-in-the-headlights trying to defend against Jagr and his linemate Jonathan Marchessault, with the result that the inevitable pass by Jagr sailed right by Zaitsev untouched. Marchessault finished the two-on-one in style to put the Panthers up 1-0. This seemed to spell the end of Rielly-Zaitsev for the evening, as the two of them played together much less after that.

The other goal against was a good shot, but Andersen simply should have had it. Marchessault streaked down the right wing, pushed by Rielly, and rifled it glove side; Freddie got some, but not enough of it with his mitt, and that was that.

4. But other than that, it was a good night for Frederik Andersen. Freddie really, really needed a very good night, and he more or less had one. He allowed one goal on which he had absolutely no chance, and one on which he should have been better. Beyond that, though, he held the fort (and the lead) en route to a save percentage of .935 of the evening, making several brilliant saves. It wasn't perfect, but it was a big improvement on the mire of failure in which he's been stuck. It was all the more impressive that he held the lead, because...

5. The Leafs turtled in the final period. Going into the third with a lead, all teams play more defensively. Going into the third with a lead given you've blown four of the last five third-period leads, the Leafs predictably were more prone to turtling than most. Even so, the SVA on the Leafs for the third was 26%, which is not good and could have been the recipe for another frustrating result. Thank Andy for holding the fort on that one.

6. Still, it was a good night on balance. The Leafs are still getting run around their own end for extended stretches, and they still have very tenuous defence against the backdoor play, which has led to a number of miserable wide-open goals this year. But they out-attempted Florida for two periods and are increasingly showing that the super-dangerous offence of the early going isn't a fluke.

7. Connor Carrick had all of the Corsi. At one point tonight, Carrick's Corsi was 22 attempts for, 1 against. He leveled off in the third, but still wound up around 70% on the evening and was probably the best Leaf defender. The rest of the Leafs' defencemen were up and down--I don't think Zaitsev is going to want to put this night in his highlights, and Marincin did his usual great-Corsi-meh-eye-test routine (60% adjusted CF%.) Polak was bad. Hopefully Hunwick doesn't draw back in, at least.

It's a win, and the Leafs earned it--especially Marner. That makes for a good evening.