One win, two franchise records
The Toronto Maple Leafs of 2017-18 are a fine hockey club, and if that’s beginning to sound like a broken record, bear with us.
With a 4- 3 victory on Wednesday night against the Florida Panthers, the Leafs won their 46th game of the season, setting a franchise mark; it was the Leafs’ 27 th home win, also a new franchise benchmark.
Goaltender Frederik Andersen made 30 saves for his 36 th win, besting his personal high of 35, done in 2014-15 with Anaheim.
Oh, and the playoff spot, which has been unofficially secure for weeks: The Leafs would clinch if the Philadelphia Flyers lost in regulation later on Wednesday night against the Colorado Avalanche.
The Leafs have 99 points, four short of tying the club record, set in 2003- 04.
Any idea of a complete Panthers comeback was snuffed when James van Riemsdyk put his own rebound past Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo at 11: 48 of the third period. Tyler Bozak did the grunt work behind the net, centring to van Riemsdyk, who scored his millionth NHL goal from a foot away or less. Okay, it was van Riemsdyk’s 200th NHL goal, but you understand.
Florida’s Evgenii Dadonov scored with 86 seconds remaining.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock l i kes to say Mitch Marner can drive a line, which is abundantly clear, and Marner went to work on the Panthers, extending his career- high point streak to 10 games with a goal and an assist.
“He is an elite player and the better he is, the better we are going to be,” Babcock said before the game. “His growth and development is really important for us. Good kid, he works hard, he has great enthusiasm.”
The Leafs had a 3-1 lead at the first intermission and that was cut to one goal when Jonathan Huberdeau, who was excellent for much the evening, scored at 15: 08 of the second. The Auston Matthews line wasn’t sharp defensively and the Panthers capitalized when Huberdeau scored his second of the game, beating Andersen high.
This not long after Andersen made one of his top saves of the season, going low to snare a Huberdeau shot that otherwise was destined for the an open net.
For the 10 th time this season, the Leafs scored at least three goals in the first period. Each of the previous nine times they did it, they won those games as well.
The Panthers allegedly were going to be desperate considering their precarious position in the standings — three points back of the New Jersey Devils, who hold the second wild- card spot — entering the night.
“You can’t feed their rush and we have to make sure we manage pucks properly and just play a smart road game,” Florida coach Bob Boughner said in the morning.
Instead, the quick Leafs took advantage of a disorganized group of Panthers and staked themselves to a 3- 0 lead before the game was 14 minutes old.
Much of the Leafs’ offence featured the Marner Show.
Marner picked up his own rebound off the end boards at 3: 05 and fired a shot over Luongo’s shoulder.
At 9: 24, Matthews took a pass from William Nylander and slipped a shot between Luongo’s legs.
The goal was Matthews’ 30 th of the season — remember he has missed 20 games with various injuries — and put him in select company. Matthews became the third Leaf in team history to start his NHL career with back- to- back seasons of at least 30 goals. Matthews, who had 40 goals as a rookie, joined Wendel Clark ( 1985- 86 and 1986- 87) and Daniel Marois ( 1988- 89 and 1989- 90) in that small group.
The Toronto l ead was extended to three goals because Marner boasts the kind of on- ice vision that most players in the NHL only dream about.
After carrying the puck and creating space, Marner passed across his body to Patrick Marleau, who had an easy tap-in into an empty net for his 25th goal of the season.
The Leafs would have had a greater lead if not for a ridiculous save by Luongo on Bozak. The Leafs centre had an open net until Luongo thrust out his right arm and stopped Bozak with his blocker.
T he Panthers did ge t one goal in the first period, coming at 17: 49 when Huberdeau beat a handcuffed Andersen after Zach Hyman failed to clear the zone.