Maple Leafs hold three-point lead in Atlantic with four games left: 'It's huge for us'
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The Toronto Maple Leafs held their spot atop the Atlantic Division with a 4-3 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.
With the win, the Maple Leafs hold a three-point advantage over the Lightning in the race for the division with four games remaining for both teams.
Wednesday's victory came after the Maple Leafs expressed disappointment in their effort Tuesday night in a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers, who are six points back of them and also equal in games played.
"It's huge for us. Especially after last night, we really weren't at our best," goaltender Anthony Stolarz said of picking two points on Wednesday. "I think tonight you could see the intensity, you can see the dedication in the defensive zone as well in the offensive zone. The guys were blocking a ton of pucks. Kudos to those guys in front of me. They made my job a lot easier."
The Maple Leafs started fast against the Lightning, opening up a 2-0 lead with goals from Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies, who had a hat trick, in the first three minutes and 33 seconds.
"Embarrassing first 3 1/2 minutes," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said surmised post-game. "In saying that for 57 minutes we leaned on them and they're a first-place team, one of the best teams in the League. As that game kept going we did a lot of good things. When you dig yourself a 2-0 hole and we were able to come back and salvage a point … give the guys credit, they battled but it was a really tough start."
Headed to the playoffs for the ninth straight year, the Maple Leafs have never won the Atlantic Division. Toronto is on track to face the top wild-card seed, currently the Ottawa Senators, in the first round, while the Lightning would matchup with the Panthers if the playoffs started today.
The Maple Leafs will close out their season with a home game against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, before road games Sunday against the Carolina Hurricanes and Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres before finishing on home ice against the Detroit Red Wings next Thursday.
The Lightning host the Red Wings on Friday, Sabres on Sunday and Panthers on Tuesday before a one-game road trip to end the year against the New York Rangers next Thursday.
"I liked our game, we had a good mentality, but a tough start," Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. "We want to get home ice and best-case scenario finish first. For us we did what we set out to do, make the playoffs, now we have our destiny in our hands to get home ice."