TORONTO — Mitch Marner scored the goal-ahead goal in the third period and Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Florida Panthers 3-2 in a key matchup atop the Atlantic Division standings Wednesday.
John Tavares and Matthew Knies had the other goals for Toronto (46-25-4), which clinched a playoff spot. Marner and Knies added an assist each to register two-point nights.
Sam Reinhart, with a goal and an assist, and Gustav Forsling replied for Florida (44-27-4). Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots.
The Leafs stretched their division lead to three points on the Tampa Bay Lightning and are now four up on the Panthers. Tampa has a game in hand.
Florida, which beat Toronto 5-1 at home in November before picking up a 3-2 victory at Scotiabank Arena last month, was minus captain Aleksander Barkov (upper-body injury) after he was hurt in Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Canadiens in Montreal.
The Leafs and Panthers play once more in the regular season — Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla.
TAKEAWAYS
Leafs: Tavares has 15 goals in 20 games since the 4 Nations Face-Off to lead the NHL. The 34-year-old pending unrestricted free agent has scored 36 times in 68 contests this season.
Panthers: The club also continues to play without star forward Matthew Tkachuk (lower-body injury) and minute-crunching defenceman Aaron Ekblad, who's serving a 20-game suspension for violating terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. The top pick at the 2014 draft isn't eligible to return until Florida's third playoff contest later this spring.
KEY MOMENT
Marner snapped a 1-1 tie midway through the third after Bobrovsky, who stopped Bobby McMann on a breakaway moments earlier, couldn't squeeze the initial shot off the stick of Auston Matthews.
KEY STAT
Matthews needs one goal to become the fifth player in franchise history with at least 30 in their first season as captain, joining Rick Vaive (54), Darryl Sittler (41), Mats Sundin (33) and Dave Keon (32).
UP NEXT
Leafs: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
Panthers: Visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2025.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
