SUNRISE, Fla.-It was as though a high-pitched whistle that only professional hockey players can detect was sounded.

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Toronto Maple Leafs Mikhail Grabovski (L) battles with Florida Panthers Stephen Weiss during first period NHL hockey action in Sunrise, Florida February 10, 2009.

Photograph by : Reuters

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In an instant, one team stopped playing and the other started.

One moment, beleaguered Nik Antropov appeared poised to play hero, having given the Maple Leafs a seemingly insurmountable three-goal, third-period lead against the Florida Panthers.

Seemingly.

But 26 seconds later, Nathan Horton scored for the Panthers and the ice suddenly seemed to tilt noticeably, with Leaf goalie Vesa Toskala facing wave after wave of attacks as the defensive shield in front of him crumbled, with defencemen in full retreat and forwards opening up wide passing lanes.

Soon after Horton's goal, Ville Peltonen scored, and then the Richard Zednik Anniversary Show took over.

Zednik, who had his throat slashed by a teammate's skate in a horrific accident exactly one year ago last night, tied the game with less than six minutes to play, then won it in spectacular style early in overtime to give the Panthers a terrific, 5-4 comeback win.

That it was the second time the Leafs had collapsed in the third at the hands of the Panthers in seven days left Ron Wilson stunned and Florida coach Peter DeBoer hopeful that the meagre crowd in attendance will go and tell their friends about the excitement they'd just witnessed.

"If that doesn't sell tickets, I don't know what can," smiled DeBoer.

The Panthers skipped past Carolina into eighth place in the Eastern Conference with the win, and if they make the post-season this spring for the first time in seven years, they'll look back on these two February comeback efforts against the Leafs as having made a critical difference.

Seven days earlier, the Leafs couldn't hold a 3-1 home-ice lead in the third, allowing ex-teammate Bryan McCabe to emerge as the OT hero.

That it happened again last night was a familiar script, yet still nearly unthinkable and certainly embarrassing to the 11th-place Leafs.

"The same thing has happened to us over and over the past two years," said forward Matt Stajan, who nearly saved the Leafs on a partial breakaway with six seconds left in the third but couldn't lift the puck over a sprawling Tomas Vokoun.

"We haven't been able to close out our games. We've just got to learn to stick to our game plan and not panic."

The three Panther goals that erased the 4-1 Toronto lead were scrambly goals off loose pucks, but the Zednik winner was a beauty. Crafty Cory Stillman slipped past Jeff Finger along the side boards near the blue line and put a perfect pass to Zednik in the slot that allowed the veteran winger to hammer a slapshot over Toskala's left pad.

Earlier in the day, Zednik had talked about coming back from the horrific incident in Buffalo exactly 12 months earlier that nearly ended his life, an incident so frightening that soon after the Ontario Hockey League mandated the use of neck guards.

"You enjoy everything a little more," he said. "You enjoy the time with your family, the guys in the locker room and that I'm still playing hockey."

It's been a slow, tentative road back for the 33-year-old Zednik, who had scored a couple of spectacular goals in recent weeks to indicate his once daring spirit was returning.

"It's a great story," said DeBoer. "You wonder if you'd been in his position whether you'd put up your feet and retire.

"He showed a lot of character by even coming back this season."