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Eight months ago, when the Florida Panthers came to town to face the Maple Leafs, the visitors began the game poorly, got roasted mid-game by coach Paul Maurice before 38 Alex Lyon saves and two late goals earned them an overtime win and turned their fading season into a lengthy playoff run.

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On Tuesday, giving every hint they’d be run out of Scotiabank Arena by the marauding Panthers, the muddled Leafs heard a similar Sheldon Keefe bench rant, which led to a lifeline 37 stops from Joseph Woll and two Noah Gregor goals for an improbable shootout decision.

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Maybe it’s apples and oranges, with Florida’s rally coming in the spring stretch drive, while Toronto is just now at its 20-game mark. But sometimes the weirdest of wins can be a catalyst, which Keefe and many of his cross-wired charges hope as they continue a week of home games.

We’ll start with Keefe’s loud lecture, a rare public show of frustration. It was aimed at winger Tyler Bertuzzi, but meant for the entire team which seemed to inexplicably droop after Gregor’s tying goal.

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“It was the mindset of our team at that moment,” Keefe said Wednesday of why he snapped. “We’ve been talking lots about our situational awareness. We’d just scored, won the faceoff, had the puck in control, but don’t take care of it and were back on our heels again. It was Bert in that instance, but there’s been too (much) of that.

“Sometimes you get emotional on the bench and (cameras) see it. Often, it’s behind closed doors. Regardless, it’s an area we have to get better in and I have to do a better job of holding them accountable.”

That goes for the Core Four, particularly Mitch Marner, though a puck in the cheek and the need for a cage helmet didn’t help break his slump when he’d already been taken off Auston Matthews’ line. Once plugged into the kind of momentum Gregor gave them, especially at home, Keefe’s Leafs should have added one or two more goals.

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Not this year, at least so far.

“You get caught up in the emotion, it’s a focus thing,” Keefe said. “But these things can’t come from the coaching staff all the time. Players on the ice have to be aware going into the (next) faceoff, knowing their responsibilities when the puck comes to them.

“After a goal, whether it’s the start or a period, end of a period, you want to be on the other half of the ice. So put the puck in a safe space.”

Guilty of letting so many teams that they were dominating ‘hang around’ in games, Keefe was complimentary of his team being a similar nuisance to the physical Panthers.

“That’s the piece, right?” he said. “The last five minutes of the first period, the shots are 8-7, (the score is) 0-0. We sagged, but stood in with them the rest of the way. Our penalty-killing and goaltending were outstanding, allowing us to grind out two points against a very good team.

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“You look at the (nine) games that have gone to shootout or overtime for us (a 6-3 record). That shows two things: We’re unable to put teams away and teams have been unable to put us away.

“We’re right there. A little better execution, less mistakes and all of a sudden, we’re on the right side of all of these games, despite the fact we haven’t put it all together yet.

“The coaches all the way through our group … we’re at 20 games now and we have to make that happen.”

The Leafs’ eight comeback wins are also tied for the NHL lead with Colorado and New Jersey, yet they are riddled with 5-on-5 flaws. And while Keefe can point to a record of 5-1-1 in the past seven, four of the victories were one-goal adventures, the past three without any red lights by Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares or Marner. A season-worst 0-for-5 on the power play Tuesday, including a four-minute foray that should have headed off overtime, adds to the unit’s three-game drought for the first time in almost a calendar year.

If Gregor hadn’t turned into Wayne Gretzky, Keefe would be getting raked over the coals even more for his bench’s astounding eighth minor for too many men.

The Leafs host the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, then a team that will once more test their physical mettle, the Boston Bruins, who still lead the Atlantic division despite their dip the past week.

“Sometimes when you’re in a funk, it’s the ugly ones that get you going,” winger Ryan Reaves said of Tuesday’s win. “There was some good and some ugly, but it was a big confidence- booster.”

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